Style and Usage Guide of the Government of Catalonia's social

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Style and Usage Guide o the Government o Catalonia’s

social networks

Second edition:November 2010



Government o Catalonia

Presidential DepartmentDirectorate General o Citizen Attention

www.gencat.cat

Style and Usage Guide of the Government

of Catalonia’s social networks

Legal notice

This work is subject to a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License, which permits

unrestricted reproduction, distribution, transmission, and the creation o derivative worksprovided that the copyright holder (The Presidential Department o the Government oCatalonia) is cited. The complete text o the license can be ound athttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Second edition: November 2010

Design and layout: www.villuendasgomez.com

ISBN: 978-84-393-8387-1 This guide is an open document. It will be improved collaboratively:

[email protected]•

www.acebook.com/gencat•

www.twitter.com/gencat•

BIBLIOTECA DE CATALUNYA - DADES CIP

Guia d’usos i estil a les xarxes socials de la Generalitat de CatalunyaISBN 9788439383871I. Catalunya. Generalitat1. Xarxes socials en línia – Catalunya – Disseny 2. Portals d’Internet –Catalunya 3. Administració electrònica – Catalunya 4. Tractament detextos – Manuals d’estil 5. Imatge corporativa – Catalunya – Disseny681.324:353(467.1)



1. Introduction- Principles behind the Government o Catalonia’s

presence in social networks- Useul suggestions and recommendations or

Government o Catalonia employees

2. Blog

2.1 Publication2.2 Contents2.3 Comment management

3. Twitter3.1 Account management3.2 Presentation aspects3.3 Contents3.4 Network: ollowing and ollowers3.5 Integration3.6 Account veriication

3.7 Publication issues

4. Facebook4.1 Proiles, pages and groups4.2 Pages as a corporate solution4.3 Account management4.4 Contents4.5 Comment management4.6 Network4.7 Integration4.8 Privacy

5. Linkedin5.1 Groups5.2 Content management strategies

6. Youtube6.1 Presentation aspects: personalisationo accounts6.2 Account management6.3 Contents6.4 Network6.5 Integration

7. Flickr7.1 Presentation aspects7.2 Account management7.3 Contents7.4 Network7.5 Integration

8. Slideshare8.1 Presentation aspects8.2 Account management

8.3 Contents and network8.4 Integration

9. Delicious9.1 Purpose9.2 Account management9.3 Contents and tags

10. Corporate imagesocial networks and the Government oCatalonia’s visual identiication programme (PIV)

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Index

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5

Style and Usage Guide o theGovernment of Catalonia’s social networks

Introduction

P

articipation in online social networks aects our personal, social and proessionalspheres. I we ocus on the proessional area, the current situation – with itshigh levels o interpersonal connectivity – as well as the management o the

inormation generated, have contributed to the orms o collective intelligence that arechanging organisations. Access to social networking sites by means o wireless devicesensures participation rom virtually anywhere and as more people join social networks,more uses will be ound or them. They thereore constitute an excellent platorm orimprovement and innovation.

Social networks acilitate active participation and involvement o citizens and otherstakeholders in governance. They also complement the Administration’s traditional two-way communication channels (over-the-phone or on-site assistance, etc.). While theoicial website o the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government o Catalonia) oers up-to-dateinormation, social networks seek to:

Provide immediate answers to users. In this case, the inormation oered might also•

be useul or other people who ind themselves in the same situation (saving time andresources, as it is usually the case with web channels). This occurs in a more closelyrelated manner, given that we are dealing with the user’s personal context.Redirect users towards the corporate web (or towards another deined resource that•

provides inormation as reliable as that generated by oicial channels) to expand oicialinormation.Facilitate the creation o thematic networks that generate essential and complementary•

knowledge allowing organisations to learn about the users’ interests as well as theinormation generated on these networks, and to take all o this into account.

The Style and Usage Guide o the Government o Catalonia’s social networks establishes

common guidelines or a consistent presence o the Government o Catalonia in socialnetworks. It aims to be a dynamic resource, to which all may contribute their experienceby emailing [email protected]. The Guide contains the recommended procedureor creating accounts and proles or any department, service, or brand (and by breadtho scope, also or private entities, and public companies in which the Government oCatalonia holds a controlling interest) in these spaces or networking and participation.It also lists the dierent social media utilities, their various uses and the purpose oeach network, recommendations or an appropriate and productive presence, as well asthe criteria or nding the best communicative style or each tool.

The Directorate General o Citizen Attention (DGCA) o the Government o Catalonia’s

Presidential Department coordinates the account creation procedure. Upon ensuringcompliance with all required standards, the DGCA issues the corresponding useraccounts and editing proles to each applying entity, along with the corporate image

1



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or social networking environments (avatars, background images, and other elements)as established by the Directorate General o Corporate Image in the visual identicationprogramme (PIV) www.gencat.cat/piv/aplicacio/16_xarxes.html .

Besides, an updated list o the applications recommended to eciently manage eachsocial network can be ound at gencat’s Delicious prolehttp://delicious.com/gencat/bundle:apps.

Principles behind the Government o Catalonia’s presence insocial networksWhen interacting with the general public, the values shared by the Government oCatalonia and its network o proessionals must be upheld at all times:

Public service• . It is our reason or being. Communication by means o socialnetworks must be as eicient as, or more so than ace-to-ace communication,

and at the same time it must be more eicient and provide better results withoutrequiring greater resources. It is important to demonstrate willingness to listen toand help the public in any possible way at all times, as well as to provide answers totheir questions.Transparency.• The basis or social media. The organisation must be presented in arealistic, natural ashion.Quality• . Quality services must be oered to the general public, ollowingestablished protocols.Joint responsibility• . Knowing who is being represented, what is the purpose, howand where communication is to be carried out. Social norms as well as the terms ouse o each social network must be respected at all times.Participation in public initiatives• as i they were our own, encouraging the

participation o other citizens.Open knowledge• , by means o a new approach to intellectual property rightsthat oster the necessary conditions to create wealth rom the data and contentsproduced by the Administration.

The conversation style must always be riendly and courteous. Communication in thedierent social networks in which the Government o Catalonia participates mustalways be citizen-oriented. Thereore, we must try to listen to people and provideadequate solutions to their needs, so that social media users leave with the eelingthat our presence is not intrusive, and that we are participating in the conversation asequals.

When participating in social networks, it must be kept in mind that these spaces‘belong’ to citizens. We may not necessarily agree with some users’ opinions, but wemust always respect them. Our purpose is not to change these opinions, or orce our

Avatars rom

the visual

identifcationprogramme

(PIV)



7


own upon anyone; our purpose must be to simply share, listen to, and converse withcitizens in their own space.

As a general principle, corporate proles must not expressed personal opinions. Also,the editorial line must ollow that o the ocial website.

Useul suggestions and recommendations or Government o Catalonia employeesSocial networking sites oer an unlimited number o possibilities that people workingor the Government o Catalonia may enjoy in a responsible manner. A series orecommendations must be kept in mind so as to guarantee appropriate use o social

media utilities, even when interacting rom personal proles.

Opinions shared in any social prole are personal in nature, and in no case may beattributed to the organisation. Employees have the right to reely express their opinionsor points o view on whatever subjects they wish.

To avoid possible conficts with the service being oered, it is advised to observe theollowing:

Any employee o the Government o Catalonia who participates in social networks•

may reely identiy him/hersel as being such.It is recommended not to use corporate email addresses to create personal accounts•

in sites unrelated to the Government o Catalonia, since this inormation could bemisinterpreted or used or undesirable purposes. This recommendation explicitlyapplies to Twitter and Facebook.Participation in activities or groups that may damage the reputation o the•

Government o Catalonia and its services must be avoided.It is advised to act in a orthright manner and to respect in-orce legislation. It must•

be noted that language policies emphasize the responsibility o civil servants in theeective use o Catalan in any work-related activities.No insulting or oensive comments may be published on the Internet.•

I social networks are used during work hours, they must be used in an appropriate•

ashion, and always with the purpose o improving the service oered.It must be kept in mind that all Internet activity is recorded indeinitely, and is•

accessible to any user.



8


The Government o Catalonia has its own corporate blog platorm with a uniormtemplate and design, which may be adapted to the specic needs o the dierentdepartments.

The blog works as a connecting link or all the social networks o the Government oCatalonia’s departments, which means the rest o the tools complement the blog andare used or urther promoting it. To acilitate this eedback unction, the blog includes

applications or widgets which channel the user back to the social networks o eachdepartment. In this way, a higher number o users are reached, creating an even widernetwork. The purpose is to achieve complete integration, so that users can learn aboutthe dierent network proles o the departments and can choose the website theypreer to interact rom.

Blog

2

http://blocs.gencat.cat



9


It must be clear that the blog is a corporate tool at the service o the department,thereore the prole must also be corporate (i.e., the user that generates the contentdoes so rom a generic prole). Nevertheless, there may be blogs in which the posts aresigned (name and surname) by the person publishing the inormation (service blogs,brand blogs, etc.).

The purpose o the blog is to broadcast inormation relating to current issues,department projects, dierent events, etc. Posts are published regularly to maintaincommunication with the blog readers. For this it is essential to plan the editing o blogposts, which should be interesting and dynamic, encourage discussions and be related

to the activities o the department, service or brand.

The ultimate purpose o blog posts must be to encourage audience participation.Thereore it will be necessary to complement the editing o blog posts with a goodcoverage in social media utilities. Then any comments will need to be managed. Below,the publication procedure or posts and comments is outlined.

Registration on a new blog is requested by submitting a orm with the necessary details(blog name, header image, applications or widgets and sidebar plug-ins) through theSuport gencat tool http://suport.gencat.cat.

2.1 Publication2.1.1 FrequencyThe general recommendation is to publish a post every week or week and a hal, leavingsucient time or reader comments, meaning the quality is more important than thequantity.

The most appropriate hours o the day and days o the week or the publication andbroadcasting o posts must also be assessed, based on the behaviour o the networkthat eeds the blog, with the purpose o achieving maximum circulation o posts in thedierent social networks.

2.1.2 Style guidelinesa) Structure

The text must consist o a maximum o six paragraphs (approximately 400 words) andthe paragraphs must be short and concise, distributed in two reading levels. The rstlevel must summarise the most relevant inormation and the second level will containadditional inormation (complete details, etc.).

b) Organisation o the inormation

I. Post titles

Priority must be given to inormative headlines, i.e., titles that explain the content o thepost in a ew words. They must be appealing, but at the same time remain ormal.



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II. First reading level

Structures which invite refection (rhetoric questions, declarations, etc.) arerecommended.

The paragraphs must be explanatory but brie: it is important to be capable osummarising inormation as much as possible. Moreover, it is advisable to end with asentence that invites the reader to continue reading the second level.

III. Second reading level

This section contains additional inormation and details which allow the reader todeepen their knowledge o the initial content but which are not essential or getting the

general idea o the post.

It is not necessary to include a summarised, nal conclusion, since we are publishing inan Internet environment in which important inormation is placed at the start: otherwisethe reader will leave the page and not continue reading. In other words, the summary,or important inormation must appear on the rst level and not on the second. Theobjective is to oer readers the keys to the text in the rst paragraphs so they candecide i the article is o interest or not.

When a concept, proper name or term is quoted which may be unknown to the reader, alink to a trustworthy source containing additional inormation (Government o Catalonia

resources, dictionaries or trustworthy websites such as Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org)should be included. c) Images

Adding images to posts make them more attractive. It is essential to know about theintellectual property rights o images used to illustrate posts, whether they are theproperty o the Government o Catalonia, or they belong to third parties, in which case itwill be necessary to obtain user rights.

Alternatively, images licensed under a Creative Commons licensehttp://creativecommons.org may be obtained rom dierent Internet repositorieshttp://blocs.gencat.cat/blocs/AppPHP/gencat/?p=1285&lang=en. These images

already have licenses that protect author rights but allow certain third party usage.

2.1.3 CirculationWhen publishing a new blog post, it is advisable to circulate it on Facebook and Twitter:the post title can become a link, or else other ways to attract readers may be used(asking users about a specic subject, encouraging participation, etc.). It is important toredirect participation to the blog to centralise discussions on a single platorm.



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2.1.4 LanguageThe Government o Catalonia blogs are published in Catalan, although the corporateblog platorm can support versions in other languages. The gencat blog, or example,contains posts available in Catalan, Spanish and English.

2.2 ContentsFirst o all, the blog should not turn into an agenda, so event dates or orecasts shouldbe avoided. Posts about relevant events should only be published with the specicpurpose o starting a discussion to encourage attendance to the event in order tocontinue the conversation held on the blog. On the other hand, it could be interesting to

publish reports o events once they have taken place.

The inormation published on the blog must provide added value to capture the interesto readers. The thematic lines should also be dened somewhere in the blog, so thatreaders can learn about them.

For example, the gencat blog posts inorm readers about projects the Government oCatalonia is developing on the Internet, such as new websites, multimedia projects,applications, tools, corporate solutions and other services. The posts also dealwith dierent subjects related to the Internet, innovation, knowledge management,e-Government and Open Government, telematic procedures, multi-channelling,

accessibility, usability, change management in organisations or legislation on aspectssuch as reuse (intellectual property and author rights) or the protection o personaldata.

2.3 Comment managementThe Government o Catalonia’s blogs should be moderated. It is advisable to publishthe blog’s comment guidelines, as on the gencat blog http://blocs.gencat.cat. Theseguidelines must be based on appropriateness (comments relating to a conversationthread), respect (use o non-oensive language) and inormation type (with respect todata protection and privacy o individuals). Inormation o an advertising nature must be

avoided above all.

Comments not complying with these requirements will not be published, although theirauthors may be given the opportunity to rewrite them, i they would like to do so.

Those responsible or the blog may edit the comments when necessary (spellingcorrection) to guarantee a minimum linguistic quality, in keeping with the linguistic rolemodel o the Administration’s blogs.

The recommended time-rame or responding to comments is within 24 hours.



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Twitter is a microblogging service or publishing short text messages (up to 140characters) and interacting with other users through web browsers or through desktopand mobile phone clients. The microposts or tweets are published to all (althoughprivate conversations can be protected so that only the user’s ollowers can read them)and social networks are created by ollowing those users that we nd interesting.

Twitter is a great tool to inorm about new services, to provide reerence inormation(dates, emergencies, new publications...) and to cover live events, but it is also atool or user discussion and collaboration. In this sense, the Twitter accounts o theGovernment o Catalonia are aimed at ostering communication and interaction withusers.

Twitter

3

www.twitter.com/gencat



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3.1 Account managementThe Twitter accounts or the dierent departments o the Government o Catalonia arecorporate, and they are authorised and congured by the Directorate General o CitizenAttention (DGCA). The persons responsible within each department must contact theDGCA in order to obtain an account. The DGCA will assess the channel’s suitability andthen congure the appropriate settings, inorm about managing guidelines and providePIV-approved graphic elements (avatar and background) to certiy the ocial charactero the process.

The names o the department or service accounts are created by using the department,service or brand name and then adding the sux cat .

Examples:Justice: @justiciacat•

Health: @salutcat•

Emergencies: @emergenciescat•

The Government o Catalonia’s Twitter accounts are set up rom gencat emailaddresses. Each account must be associated to a dierent email address becauseTwitter does not allow associating multiple proles to the same email address.

In order to ensure optimal management o Twitter accounts, as well as adequate data

protection and the transer o responsibility and control, the Government o Cataloniaavoids using the username and password or the dierent social networks applicationsdirectly.

Accounts are managed through the CoTweet application. The DGCA sets up both theTwitter and CoTweet accounts and designates a user as the account administrator.I necessary, this person may also appoint others, whether Government o Cataloniaemployees or external providers (suppliers o content, etc.) as corporate editors. The



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proprietary user and editors will have to set up their own CoTweet accounts with thesame corporate address they will use to manage their Twitter account.

Please bear in mind that a Twitter account that has not been updated or six months isconsidered inactive and can be removed automatically.

3.2 Presentation aspects3.2.1. Personalisation o accountsThe Directorate General o Citizen Attention (DGCA) has dened certain elements thatneed to be taken into account to ensure Twitter accounts comply with the Governmento Catalonia’s corporate identity guidelines:

a) The name o the account should ollow the structure ‘name o the department,service or brand. Government o Catalonia’.b) The account’s avatar must be in accordance with the visual identication programmewww.gencat.cat/piv/aplicacio/16_xarxes.html .c) The reerence website or blog must be the URL o the department, service or brand.d) The location is ‘Catalunya’.e) A brie description should be included in the Bio section providing inormation on“Projects and activities o [name o department, service or brand] o the Government oCatalonia”. It should not exceed 160 characters.) Design colours: background #, text #333333, links #ac2215, sidebar # andsidebar border #4d4d4d.

g) Background: combines the corporate image o the specic department and the URLo the [department, service or brand] in landscape ormat. The image height should notexceed 800px to prevent the screen rom being cut.

3.2.2 LanguageTweets are written mostly in Catalan, the Government o Catalonia’s ocial language.They can also be written in Spanish and English, depending on the specic contents.

As or retweets, they will be kept in the original language o the tweet.

3.2.3 Tweet structureTweets are a combination o (headline-style) text and, i possible, a link, shortened

by means o the bit.ly application, which is built into CoTweet. This allows quick andeasy monitoring o the account metrics. Whenever possible, Tweets will also include ahashtag introduced by #.

text + Short link + #hashtag

Twitter account analysis o the Catalan Parliament http://bit.ly/cLcOR4 #ogov

The text inormation should be synthetic, rigorous and concise. It is important to add alink whenever possible so that users can expand on the content.

In the case o broadcasting live events via Twitter ( live blogging ), it is not necessary to

add a link, but it is important to include in the tweet a hashtag reerring to the event.The structure o the tweet should be the ollowing:



15


Author + quote + #hashtag

Boris Mir: “Transversal competences are important in the new educationalsystem” #sessioweb

3.2.4 LinksLinks add value to tweets. Contents must be careully read beore being linked andthe source needs to be reliable. In the case o websites, author reerences should bechecked in order to determine i the source can be trusted. In general, tweets shouldnot link to personal blogs, except in those cases where the content is relevant (it is inline with the stated purpose o the corporate Twitter account) regardless o the opiniono the author or blogger.

3.2.5 Tags (hashtags)Tags dene the theme o the tweet and preerence should be given to those tagsalready existing on Twitter. To check i a tag is already in use it can be simply typed inTwitter ‘s search http://search.twitter.com (i.e.: administration). The tag must be short.

The use o tags allows retrieving inormation quickly, so users can search and ltercontent via tags. They are also an indicator o the hottest issues on Twitter.

3.2.6 Retweets (RT)Retweets are tweets rom other users that are published again to contribute to the

conversation. In order to be retweetable, tweets should not exceed 125-130 characters(depending on the length o the account name).

As a general rule, retweets should be written in the ollowing ormat:RT + @nameoftheretweetedprofile + text + short link + #hashtag

RT @tecnimap2010. “All the news o the event on Facebook”http://bit.ly/9SBzF #tecnimap

It is important to open and shorten the rst tweet by means o the corporateapplication, so that it can be included in the prole’s metrics.

Interesting content that can be retweeted:

Content rom trusted sources (institutions or individuals who are experts in the•

theme o the Twitter account).Content posted by renowned users.•

Ocial inormation.•

It is not recommended to automatically retweet rom a keyword.The number o retweets should not exceed that o the original tweets, although at rstit may be acceptable to keep a balance between the two modes o publication, with thepurpose o building the network.

I the text exceeds 140 characters, it must be shortened in an intelligible manner. I

there are more than one hashtag, some may be deleted. I the text is not clear, containserrors or content needs to be added, the tweet can be modied as long the ollowingormula is added to the end:



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Text + link + #hashtag + /via @nameoftheretweetedprofile

All the news o the event on Facebook http://bit.ly/9SBzF #tecnimap /via @tecnimap2010

3.3 ContentsIt is important to establish internal channels or the provision o contents and to inormmanaging units about this tool to instantly communicate events, news, consultations,emergencies, etc. However, those in charge o managing the Twitter accounts shouldbe responsible or the contents posted on the account, or the resulting conversationsand or retweeting relevant contents.

To maintain Twitter’s social network, content needs to be published regularly but not tothe point o being too much. In general, it is recommended to publish between 1 and 10tweets a day, except when broadcasting live events, in which case it may be interestingto publish more tweets that will allow users to track key points o the event, or whenreporting on emergencies etc.

Contents, comments and responses should be managed manually, which also allowsidentiying spam and/or spammers.

HootSuite allows scheduling tweets, which can be useul when a tweet needs to beposted at a later time. However, it is recommended not to overuse this eature.

3.3.1 Types o contentInormation rom external sources

Publication o new entries on the corporate blog.•

Broadcasting o live events.•

Publication o new videos, photos, presentations, etc.., on the Internet repositories.•

Public calls or selection processes.•

Site updates, new sections and publications.•

Press releases published on the website. When tweeting a press release, the headline•

should be reworded or this medium and the link to the web should be added.

Content generated in Twitter

Announcements and invitations to events.•

Inormation on incidents, emergencies and critical situations.•

Contents produced exclusively or Twitter based on veried inormation rom the•

network that adds value to the prole o the Government o Catalonia. In this way,the prole becomes a lter or high quality content.

Once the activity on Twitter has been consolidated, the publication o tweets can beautomated through RSS eeds o certain contents (public calls, grants, ocial journals,etc.), provided that their volume is not too high.



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3.3.2 Questions and other user inputImmediate action must be taken or those tweets requiring an answer, namely:a) Questions, concerns and requests: those o a more personal nature can be answeredvia a private message.b) Criticism: in cases o constructive criticism, the best option is to respond publiclyto show that an answer is given to user eedback. I the eedback is negative, thecomplaint must be analyzed and a constructive answer must be given.

In cases where more inormation is needed, users can be reerred to an email address.

FAQs and complaints received by the dierent departments, services and brands

may be stored in a repository, a wiki in the DGCA site, Internet group, belonging tothe e-Catalunya platorm, so that the community that manages the Government oCatalonia presence in social networks can consult them in the uture.

3.4 Network: ollowing and ollowersWhen a Twitter account is created or a department, other departments and relevantorganisations will be actively ollowed. We should ollow people and organisationsrelated to our service strategy. As a guiding principle, we will ollow any person whobecomes a ollower o our prole, because it is considered a basic rule o netiquette.However, it is advisable to avoid ollowers with an oensive avatar (i.e. pornography) orspammers, which may be blocked rom among the ollowers o our prole.

Our reputation on Twitter also depends on the number o users that we ollow. Abalance must be kept between the number o ollowers and the number o those whowe ollow. Otherwise, it can be regarded as a misuse o the tool, since the ultimatepurpose is to share knowledge and create a two-way social network.

However, in order to optimally handle communication it will be necessary to create listso specic people or organisations that should be monitored more closely because theiractivities match our prole.

The possibility o automating the ollowing o users by keywords should not beconsidered. However, once the account has an established presence as per the number

o ollowers and these ollowers have shown a track record in publishing content, themanagement o users that we ollow could be automated via an automatic option (suchas the Socialoomph application). I this solution is implemented, it will be necessary tocheck regularly to ensure that the people we ollow are not breaking the rules.



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3.5 IntegrationTwitter accounts, because they are public in nature, can be integrated in other spacesby means o small applications (widgets) that embed external inormation in a websiteto promote it. These widgets can be used on:

Our own sites:• corporate blogs, gencat.cat website, webs o departments or specialwebsites.Our own external sites:• gencat’s Facebook page, Facebook pages o otherdepartments, etc., by means o a tab, a sidebar widget or via automatic publications.Third-party sites:• widgets can be integrated on anyone’s website, blog, etc.

3.6 Account verifcationAs it can be dicult to distinguish a ake account rom an ocial account, Twitteroers the verifed account service, which places a badge on those accounts whoseauthenticity has been veried. To use this service, log in to Twitter and ll theverication orm, available in http://twitter.com/help/veriied.

Beore submitting the orm, it is important to publish at least a link to the Twitteraccount on the ocial website. This will ease the verication process.

It should also be noted that any changes to the user name, bio or account inormationwill result in the loss o the verifed account status, so a new verication process will beneeded.



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3.7 Publication issuesWhen managing Twitter accounts, there may be times when these applications stopworking (or example, due to a momentary Twitter error). We cannot do anything toavoid these errors, and simply must wait until the program is working again.

CoTweet, the management tool we use to manage these accounts, might also be downor some reason. These service outages do not tend to last long, but they could provecritical in some situations, such as when covering or broadcasting a live event. Theollowing alternative resources will allow you to maintain normal account activities.

I CoTweet is down

Images and text (Twitpic): I you want to post messages and images on Twitter and•

CoTweet is down, you can do so by email using Twitpic. It’s simple to do: just sendan email to a predened address (which will be distributed to the account managers)such as [email protected]. The text in the subject line will bethe text o the tweet, and the image or photo taken with your mobile phone, PDA,or other device will be attached to it. Twitpic doesn’t allow publishing o text-onlytweets, since it always includes a picture as an attachment.Text (Bit.ly): Every gencat account is associated with a bit.ly link shortening account•

(which is associated with CoTweet’s link shortener); this allows you to tweet whenCoTweet’s server is down. You can post both text and links, and will be able tocontinue to keep tracking statistics or the links used (even though you have not

been able to shorten them via CoTweet).

I the CoTweet server is down because it is being updated

Mobile clients: Most service outages are related to updates in the web interace. Thismeans that even i the website doesn’t work, you can still access the service usingmobile phones which have been congured in advance. These include iPhones (usingclients such as Tweetdeck), Android phones (using clients such as Seesmic), andBlackBerry phones (using clients such as Übertwitter).



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This social network provides a platorm to communicate and share inormation, photos,videos and links with users we know. Besides, users can participate in communitiesthat may interest them. Facebook www.acebook.com also permits sending private

messages to our contacts (called riends on Facebook) and to other users who we maynot know but who are on Facebook, and to create events and invite others to join.

Facebook

4

www.acebook.com/gencat



21


Moreover, there is a wide array o applications that complement the basicunctionalities o Facebook, bringing a new range o recreational as well as proessionalunctions.

Facebook is one o the most popular social networks worldwide and one o thelargest in terms o active users. In this sense, it is an appropriate platorm to conveyinormation to a broad audience and thereore the Government o Catalonia hasdecided to be on Facebook.

4.1 Profles, pages and groupsFacebook oers several options depending on whether users represent themselves, aninstitution, a company or business, or a group o people. Thus, a prole, a page (ocialor community page) or a group can be created, depending on their purpose within thissocial network. Facebook retains the right to re-classiy (and in some cases even toshut down) the options i the established criteria are not respected.

4.1.1 ProfleProles are or people who join Facebook on an individual basis.

4.1.2 Page

Pages are designed or institutions, companies or businesses, celebrities, etc.. They canbe managed by one or by several proles.

a) Official page

Ocial pages allow institutions, businesses and other entities to create their ocialspace within Facebook in order to communicate with their ans.

b) Community page

Community pages are intended to support a cause or a movement. I such a pagebecomes very popular (thousands o ans) it will be adopted and updated by theFacebook community.

4.1.3 GroupGroups are created by a user (creator) and the people that join the group may havedierent roles: administrator, voting members and members. Groups can be public,private or secret, and are used to create networks o people interested on a specictopic.



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4.2 Pages as a corporate solutionPages are the corporate solution chosen by the dierent departments o theGovernment o Catalonia. In act, it is the most suitable option or institutions and theirconstituent bodies, as Facebook attributes a dierential character to organisations oall types to distinguish them rom personal proles.

Creating a prole or a department or service is not an option because it would breakFacebook’s terms o use.

Pages have a number o eatures that make them very useul when trying to monitorwhat’s happening on the Web, as they provide comprehensive statistics o ans,

including inormation on age, gender, language, country, etc.

4.3. Account managementThe Facebook pages or the dierent departments o the Government o Catalonia arecorporate, and they are authorised and congured by the Directorate General o CitizenAttention (DGCA). The persons responsible within each department must contact theDGCA in order to obtain a page with the appropriate avatar and instructions in respecto the individual page and corporate image.

Pages are managed directly rom the Facebook interace. Users who need to editinormation on the page or add content to it will be made co-administrators.

Facebook pages are not linked to any personal prole. Otherwise, the user prole nameassociated with the page would be displayed every time new content was published,instead o the name o the page. Because o these limitations, the DGCA appointsa trusted administrator that will manage the contents o each o the Government oCatalonia’s pages on Facebook. These administrators can edit the page rom theirpersonal Facebook account and can manage all the editing options.



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4.4 ContentsIt is advised not to publish many posts per day on Facebook. In general, it isrecommended to post about 2 or 3, but it will depend on the type o account activity.

Inormation rom our own sources may be posted on Facebook:Publication o new entries on the corporate blog.•

Broadcasting o live events: links to pages where events are being broadcast on•

streaming.Publication o new videos, photos, presentations, etc., on the Internet repositories.•

Site updates, new sections and publications.•

The automatic publication o tweets on Facebook should be avoided, as the writingstyle is very dierent in the two tools. Twitter uses hashtags and other users are otenquoted, so syndicated content would be out o context.

When publishing rom HootSuite, it must be remembered that pictures cannot bepublished yet, just text or now. Thereore, i we would like to publish images, it must bedone on Facebook directly.

On the other hand, tabs and sidebar widgets can be added to the Facebook page toaccess the rest o the department or service repositories (YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc.).

4.4.1 LanguageFacebook posts are written mostly in Catalan, the Government o Catalonia’s ociallanguage. They can also be written in Spanish and English, depending on the speciccontents.



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4.5 Comment managementThe administrator manages who can write on the page’s wall: only the administrator,only the ans, or anyone. It is recommended that only the administrator can write on thewall. To choose this option, go to the Settings section that sits just below the text boxand uncheck the option Fans can write or publish content on the wall . Then select Only

written by the page as the Deault view o the wall . Additionally, choose Our page rom theoptions that are above the wall, so that only messages posted by administrators o thepage can be viewed.

This will not prevent ans rom commenting on posts, as contents are open. Thereore,close attention must be paid to any comments when new inormation is published,

because Facebook does not send e-mail alerts on page comments (although users cansubscribe to status updates via RSS). I, due to special circumstances, comment on wallposts must be restricted, go to Settings and uncheck the Comments about news will be

expanded by deault . However, it is recommended not to do it.

Comments must be addressed as soon as possible, on the same space o the questionor query. It is advisable to thank the user or participating and to include any additionalcontent that may be needed. I the comment is inappropriate or irrelevant, we must ndthe best way to respond to the user in a polite ashion, linking inormation or redirectingthe user to other websites which may provide an adequate response, i necessary. It isimportant to respond in a corporate ashion, i.e. on behal o the page and not rom the

administrator’s prole (administrators must be careul because it is easy to get conusedon Facebook). Comments can be sorted in two types:a) Questions, concerns and requests.b) Criticism: in cases o constructive criticism on Facebook, the best option is torespond publicly on the comments section, which is the only place where users can postmessages i the above instructions were ollowed correctly. I the eedback is negative,the complaint must be analyzed and a constructive answer must be given.

In all cases, the response must be coordinated with the unit responsible or theinormation in question and, when appropriate, it should include an e-mail address incase the user needs more inormation. A record o FAQs and complaints should be kept,as it may be useul in the uture.



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4.6 NetworkOne o the main eatures o Facebook pages is that they do not have a list o riends, asproles do, but they have ans, so that page administrators cannot ask users to becomeriends and must instead devise other strategies to increase the number o ans.

Pages can have their own URL (i.e.: www.acebook.com/gencat) when they reach 25members. In order to quickly reach this gure, some specic actions are recommended,such as:

Sending an email to the department’s contact list.•

Publish a press release inorming about the creation o the page.•

Paying or a sidebar o Facebook to advertise.•

4.7 IntegrationIntegrating Facebook in other sites can be managed in several ways:

In our own sites (blogs and gencat website, webs o the department, special•

websites, etc.): by means o small applications (widgets) that embed externalinormation in a website to promote it www.acebook.com/acebook-widgetsThird-party sites: through applications allowing users to post on their Facebook•

proles inormation created by departments (module Share This on the web o adepartment / service http://sharethis.com)

4.8 Privacy

Privacy settings or the Government o Catalonia’s pages on Facebook are those thatcome by deault.



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Linkedin is a platorm or proessional interaction in which users can exchangeexperiences to improve their work praxis. The site permits the creation o groups thatshare an interest on specic initiatives or projects, posting or answering questions,posting job oers or responding to job oers... In the specic case o the Government

o Catalonia, gencat and the other departments create groups that share summarizedinormation providing signicant added value to proessionals.

5.1. GroupsLinkedin groups may be open or closed – and in the later case, access is available onlyby invitation. In any case, the privacy o the group’s contents is guaranteed because thegroups are not indexable. Linkedin is a network o people, and it is not advisable thatorganisations create personal accounts with the idea o obtaining a public URL o theollowing type: www.linkedin.com/in/username

5.1.1 Management o Linkedin groups

One group per department/area/division will be created, and there will be a commonadministrator-owner shared by all the groups o each organisation, who will assignadministrator privileges or each department group.

In any case, as happens with all social networking tools, the purpose is to encouragedecentralized management without running the risks associated with proles/accounts/mailboxes and data security.

5.1.2 Sections o Linkedin groupsa) Summary. Contents posted must provide added value in ollowing with debatescarried out in private tools such as blogs.b) Debates. Forums in which topics may be debated.c) Headlines. Publication o eeds.d) Jobs. Job oers.e) Subgroups. Only in those cases where they have been created.) Management o the group and other aspects.

Groups should be promoted in external environments (blogs, Facebook, Twitter...) giventhat Linkedin does not allow or much circulation.

Linkedin

5



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5.2 Content management strategiesa) Sel promotion o the group (blogs, orums, etc.).b) Automate the posting o contents o the ‘Headlines’ section by means o eeds (viaRSS) o the contents published in other repositories and networks (mainly Twitter,blogs, Facebook...). To prevent the channel rom saturating, it is recommended tomanually publish headlines or inormation related to the department or the service only.In this way, specialized content can be provided to the group’s users.c) As debates are carried out on the blogs, it is recommended to publish manualsummaries in the corresponding section o the Linkedin group. Users belonging to thegroup will receive an automatic email each time the administrators post a new topic ordebate.



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YouTube is a platorm which allows users to publish, watch and share user-generatedvideos. YouTube is ideal or disseminating inormative or educational audiovisualmaterial about the activities o departments. It complements the corporate multimediaplatorm BIG (image bank o the Government o Catalonia).

6.1 Presentation aspects: personalisation o accountsYouTube allows personalisation o accounts. There are some dierences between basic

accounts, on which only videos o ten minutes or less can be uploaded, and premiumaccounts that have no length restrictions.

Basic accounts:• the avatar and the basic colours o the channel (background,typeace, links, etc.) can be personalised.Premium accounts:• the avatar, basic colours o the channel (background, typeace,links, etc.) can be personalised and a header o 960px width and 150px height can bepublished.

Youtube

6

www.youtube.com/gencat



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6.2 Account managementThe YouTube channels o the dierent Government o Catalonia ministries anddepartments are corporate channels, and they are authorized and congured by theDirectorate General or Citizen Attention (DGCA). The persons responsible or thismeans o communication in each ministry or department must contact the DCGA inorder to obtain an account with the appropriate avatar as well as guidelines regardingthe channel and corporate image. The Government o Catalonia’s YouTube accountsare set up using gencat email addresses. To manage them, a session o the Youtubeaccount which is linked to a version o Fireox Portable will be let open. Be careul to

pay attention and never close the session when you log out o Fireox—otherwise, youmight lose your password. We do not recommend linking your YouTube account with your Facebook or Twitteraccounts. It is preerable to manually control the circulation o videos on other socialnetworks so that published content is adapted to each network.

6.3 ContentsThe YouTube website allows or classication o videos in playlists and users can choosethe playlist they want to watch or select a video that is highlighted in the Videos and

Playlists section.

At the time o publishing a video, it is necessary to give it a title and provide a briedescription. Further, it is best to complete the Tags eld with keywords that makereerence to the video in question in order to make it easier to search or.

6.4 NetworkAlthough YouTube oers typical social networking unctionalities, such as instantmessaging and a comments system, the Government o Catalonia has decided touse social networking unctionalities through other tools and to use YouTube only asa means o publishing videos.

With the same idea o avoiding interaction with users through YouTube in order toconcentrate interaction on other social networks, in each video that we publish weselect Don’t allow comments, Don’t allow comment voting, No, don’t allow video

responses, and No, don’t allow this video to be rated.

6.5 IntegrationThe most common way o integrating this service in other sites is by embeddingcontents in other media, such as blogs. In this way, blog readers can use this resourcewithout having to go to a dierent website, which reduces the risk o conusing thereader and optimises the number o clicks.



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Flickr is an online photo management and sharing application that, similarly to the caseo YouTube, complements the corporate multimedia platorm BIG (image bank o theGovernment o Catalonia).

Photos o the departments’ institutional events, press conerences, presentations, etc.,can be published in Flickr and classied in dierent albums according to subject matter.It must be noted that the ree version has a monthly upload limit o 100 MB (10 MB

per image); users with greater uploading requirements will need to upgrade to the proversion. Photostream views are also limited to the 200 most recent images. Flickr also enables the publication o short videos (90 seconds).

Flickr

7

www.lickr.com/gencat_cat



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7.1 Presentation aspects: personalisation o accountsFlickr allows users to choose their own avatar. Image size is 48 x 48px.

It is also possible to choose the view mode or the site, that is, whether the imagesappear in a single column, or in two or three columns; whether the albums andcollections in our account appear on the side, etc.

7.2 Account managementThe Flickr accounts or the dierent departments o the Government o Catalonia arecorporate, and they are authorised and congured by the Directorate General o Citizen

Attention (DGCA). The persons responsible within each department must contact theDGCA in order to obtain an account with the appropriate avatar and instructions inrespect o the individual account and corporate image.

The Flickr accounts o the Government o Catalonia are set up rom gencat emailaddresses and are managed via the Fireox extension FireUploader (ireuploader.com).Once installed on the user’s computer, this application allows access to the contents othe user’s Flickr account without having to log in to the Flickr website, and it works ina way very similar to an FTP client. You can upload photos and add titles, descriptions,and tags which will later be visible rom the Flickr website. 7.3 Contents

The Flickr account has to be congured so that the images have a Creative Commonslicence (Attribution- No derivative works).

To do this, you have to access the option Your account / Privacy and permissions /

Deault preerences or new uploads / Which licence or your content and select theoption Attribution- No derivative works.

7.4 NetworkContents published on Flickr are circulated through other social networks, such asTwitter and Facebook, with the aim o reaching the greatest number o users.

The Flickr account has to be congured so that it only works as an image bank. To avoid

the publication o comments that would make it a social network, go to Privacy and permissions, then to Preerences or new uploads / Who can add notes, tags and people,

and select Only you.

7.5 IntegrationThe most common way o integrating this service in other sites is by embeddingcontents in other media, such as blogs. Images can be embedded as part o the contento a blog post, but other applications can also be used, such as sidebar widgets enablingthe Flickr gallery to be accessed rom the blog o the department, service or brand.



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This tool enables the publication o Power Point or Keynote presentations, Worddocuments, PDF’s and videos. It is used or publishing inormation in a more schematicormat (training materials, tasks and activities specic to a department, etc.).

Slideshare

8

www.slideshare.net/gencat



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8.1Presentation aspects: personalisation o accountsSlideShare allows users to choose their own avatar. Image size is 100 x 100px. 8.2 Account managementThe SlideShare accounts or the dierent departments o the Government o Cataloniaare corporate, and they are authorised and congured by the Directorate General oCitizen Attention (DGCA). The persons responsible within each department must contactthe DGCA in order to obtain an account with the appropriate avatar and instructions inrespect o the individual account and corporate image.

The SlideShare accounts o the Government o Catalonia are set up rom gencat email

addresses and are managed via the Fireox extension FireUploader ( ireuploader.com).Once installed on the user’s computer, this application allows access to the contentso the user’s SlideShare account without having to log in to the Flickr website, and itworks in a way very similar to an FTP client. You can upload presentations and add titles,descriptions, and tags which will later be visible rom the SlideShare website. 8.3 Contents and NetworkContents published on SlideShare are circulated through other social networks, such asTwitter and Facebook, with the aim o reaching the greatest number o users. In the caseo SlideShare, there is not an option to prevent users rom making comments, but it isadvised not to encourage them. The only networking unctionality that will be used is the

‘subscribe to’.

For SlideShare to work only as a repository or presentations, go to Edit profle / Privacy

settings and select No one.

All the materials published on SlideShare, whether presentations or documents, must bein PDF ormat. The ollowing parameters have to be set: document title, tags, CC licence,continuous page ormat, denition o le with the document title and ull page view.

To ensure all presentations are published under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attributionlicence (CC BY 3.0), go to Edit profle / Manage account / Choose deaults or your

content and select CC Attribution License.

8.4 IntegrationThe most common way o integrating this service in other sites is by embedding contentsin other media, such as blogs. In this way, blog readers can use this resource withouthaving to go to a dierent website, which reduces the risk o conusing the reader andoptimises the number o clicks.



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Delicious is a social bookmarking web service, that is to say, a data bank o URL’s ointeresting websites or documents o any kind that are published on the Web. Followingthe model o the so-called Favourites, the list o websites o interest that is stored ineach personal browser, Delicious oers users the possibility o sharing lists online andorganising them through the use o tags and bundles, which makes it easier to searchor materials by using keywords within the Delicious site.

Another service oered by Delicious is the creation o a personal network with whom toshare the social bookmarks and the access to the hotlist where the most recent popularbookmarks are ound.

Delicious

9

www.delicious.com/gencat



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9.1 Purposea) To record o all the contents shared by the Government o Catalonia through any oits proiles.b) To ollow-up on all the online contents generated by the Government o Catalonia.c) To store interesting contents and organise them according to subject matter andsource. 9.2 Account managementThe Delicious accounts o the Government o Catalonia are set up rom Yahoo emailaddresses associated to gencat email addresses and can also be managed rom other

tools.

9.3 Contents and tagsThe basic inormation that has to be lled in when saving a link is contained in ourelds:

URL:• the URL o the linkTitle:• the title o the link. The system will automatically take the title o the link beingsaved, so it may have to be changed to match the content.Notes:• this is the part where the link’s content is described. It is useul or adding tothe inormation given in the title or tags so that it is easier to retrieve it later.Tags:• they are used to describe and classiy the links, grouping them in an orderly

ashion.

Bookmark tags must be clearly dened. Each tag can only consist o one worddescribing the content shared in a concise and clear ashion. It must also be noted thatthere is no limit o tags or each bookmark, so they can be classied using as many tagsas needed.

In order to standardise tagging o shared contents, a set o guidelines has beenestablished:

Always write tags without accents or punctuation marks.•

I two words are needed to deine the content, create compound words. For example,•

in the case o electronic books, an appropriate tag would be electronicbooks.

I the shared content is generated by any o the Government o Catalonia’s oicial•

institutions, the tag gencat will always be added in the irst place.I the shared content is generated by any o the Government o Catalonia’s•

departments, the tag o the department will always be added in the second place. Ithe department has more than one department tag, the most appropriate option oroptions will be selected.

It is important to always add the department tag, as they enable the classication obookmarks into categories or bundles o tags, making it easier to search by department.

Also, other bundles can be created to group together items o a similar subject matter.



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Limiting the number o bundles is recommended in order to make classication easierand to dene contents as much as possible. In this sense, it is essential to choose tagscareully and to ensure they are clear and concise.

List of department tags:

Presidential Department presidencia

Vice-presidential Department vicepresidencia

Ministry o Social Action and

Citizenshipacciosocial ciutadania

Ministry o Agriculture, Food and

Rural Actionagricultura alimentacio acciorural

Ministry o Culture and the Media cultura mitjanscomunicacio

Ministry o Economy and Finance economia inances

Ministry o Education educacio

Ministry o Governance and Public

Administrationgovernacio administracionspubliques

Ministry o Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise innovacio universitats empresa

Ministry o Home Aairs, InstitutionalRelations and Participation

interior relacionsinstitucionalsparticipacio

Ministry o Justice justicia

Ministry o the Environment and

Housingmediambient habitatge

Ministry o Town and Country

Planning and Public Worksptop urbanisme

Ministry o Health salut

Ministry o Employment treball



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10.1 Criteria or identiiers

10.1.2 Departments o the Generalitat de Catalunya

Corporateimage

10

10.1.3 Public companies, autonomous institutions and services

The complete visual identication programme can be ound at:www.gencat.cat/piv/aplicacio/16_xarxes.html

10.1.1 Gencat



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10.2 Blogs o the Generalitat deCatalunya

10.2.1 Gencat

Option 3 - Picture or illustration, text is hard to read

Option 1 -Light background

Option 2 -Solid dark colour background or dark background image (picture or illustration)



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10.3.3 Departments o the

Generalitat de Catalunya

10.3.4 Public companies,autonomous institutions and

services

10.3 Twitter

10.3.2 Gencat

10.3.1 Size o background design



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10.4 Facebook

10.4.1 Gencat



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10.5 Youtube

10.5.1 Gencat



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10.6 Flickr

10.6.1 Gencat



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10.7 Slideshare

10.7.1 Gencat



Documents

Style and Usage Guide of the Government of Catalonia's social