We’ve been following the Air Force’s moves with Web 2.0 for a while now — even going so far as to include their blog assessment flowchart (which I think is fabulous) in a white paper we recently published — so when I read David Meerman Scott’s blog post:

Free social media ebook and video: New Media and the Air Force

I thought I’d share it with you…because this information needs to be put to good use!

In February, the White House, under Barak Obama’s new progressive leadership developed the Recovery.Gov website to much fanfare in the Open-Source Content Management System (CMS) community. Particularly happy were the developers that use Drupal as their Open-Source CMS was the one chosen to develop the site with.

As Nancy Sola points out in her article “Why the White House’s Embrace of Drupal Matters”:

I asked two CMS expert friends to help me understand the situation, and here are a few of the reasons they gave for why the White House’s embrace of Drupal is momentous:

First off is the very fact that with the move the White House is offering an alternative to DC’s long love-fest with proprietary technology. Drupal is free, and hey, the economy being what it is, there are tax-payer dollars to be saved on going open source.

Second, it shows that the White House isn’t putting much stock in the argument that collaboratively-built software isn’t stable or secure enough for government use. (Though one could make the argument that Recovery.gov isn’t exactly mission critical.)

Third, Drupal is, arguably, progressive. It has relatively deep roots in Democratic politics, first getting attention in the political space as the foundation under Dean Space. Whatever state Drupal is in today is a result of the community of developers who cared enough to nurture it — the underlying message, of which, of course, echoes Obama’s political narrative.

Embracing Open-Source development, which is part of the Web 2.0 world and the more progressive way to build modern websites is a true leap-of-faith from our government. The whole idea of Open-Source means that the government doesn’t have to pay for the basic technology development. That part is done and it is free to use. The customization of the Open-Source tool like Drupal is the part that would still cost money, but the government won’t have to live with custom coded products if they use Open-Source as the platform.

So, is Drupal the big winner in the Open-Source CMS game? Not likely. While today they can bask in the glow of the initial win from the government, there are a lot of Open-Source players that have their own unique method of development. Many argue that the only two players in the Open-Source CMS game are Drupal and Joomla, probably the two currently most popular CMS products.

But a quick look at one of my favorite sites, opensourceCMS.com tells the bigger story.

In the PHP type of Open-Source CMS products there are 193 different Website Development products, 91 Portal products, 19 Forum products, 14 Blog products, 11 Image Gallery products, 10 Learning Management products, 7 eCommerce products, and 5 Wiki products. That’s just as of today. More are in development to compete with these in the future as technology will surely advance.

So while Drupal might be the current flavor of choice, developers and I’m sure the federal government, will be keeping an eye on the future of Open-Source CMS. One thing might be certain though. The static HTML website of the past will be heading for extinction, which means that many of today’s static websites will need to be converted to something that incorporates Web 2.0. technologies and development and Open-Source technology with it’s nice price-tag (free) may just be the choice.

Government 2.0 Camp is happening right now and if you’re not there, no mattter…you can keep up with everything that’s going on through Twitter.  Follow the tweets at: #gov20camp.

And if you want to stay tuned post barcamp, follow the conversation at Government 2.0 Club.

Are you going?

It seems as though everyone’s talking about Twitter these days, the social media tool du jour.  But what is this tool really all about?  Since there’s been a lot of chatter about this very topic lately, I thought I’d include excerpts and links to some good articles and blog posts that should provide newbies with some guidance.

Here’s a succinct definition, which I found at the Capitol Communicator website:

“First things first, what exactly is Twitter? Twitter is a 140-character statement or update, sometimes referred to as a microblog. If you use Facebook, think of a whole application that revolves around your status update. However, unlike Facebook where you need to accept a friend, people on Twitter simply follow you and can read your updates. Conversely, if you want to read a users updates or “tweets” you simply follow them. Twitter users follow friends, companies and influential people in their fields and industries.”

The post goes on to explain why you should consider using the tool, which can be used as a way of increasing awareness for you, your organization (i.e. agency) and/or issues that you care about (for instance, creating public awareness of government initiatives).

Additionally, here’s a good list of tips for how to use Twitter, courtesy of Stacey Parks from Film Specific:

1.  To really get the hang of it, start following others and do what they do.

2.  Be honest.  Have fun.  Don’t be preoccupied with selling anything.

3.  Share links, share ideas, ask questions, answer questions — anything but “What are you doing?”  Unless it’s really interesting.

4.  Get active and follow others.  Great tool for tossing around ideas.

5.  Join the conversation…there are too many promoters on twitter who just broadcast.  Learn and start networking.

6.  Always give value in your Tweets.

7.  As far as getting followers goes, being friendly and helpful does wonders.

8.  Keep your profile updated and the followers will come.

9.  Contribute positively to conversations.

10.  Instant feedback from readers is the best part of Twitter.  Listen to others; engage them; have a conversation.

My next post will be very specific to the use of Twitter for government initiatives…so until then, enjoy your weekend!

The Bethesda Chapter of Young AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association) has been hosting a great series, “Federal Web 2.0 – Virtual Podium Series” by bringing in some key players in Government Web 2.0.  In the latest webinar, Lynn Dean, Manager of Strategic and Web Communications at TSA talked about some of the major challenges of Web 2.0, and establishing a blog on a Government website.  One excellent hint was to remember that, since the change in administration; you “Have the President on your side.”   The TSA blog, Evolution of Security, also has its bloggers on Twitter, @TSABlogTeam.  It is great to see the Federal Government getting creative, removing roadblocks to Web 2.0 technologies, and developing policies around them.

One of the presentation’s main points was that you must educate yourself and others to recognize the importance of using blogs and other social media to communicate with your stakeholders.  GovLoop has a great forum on “must reads for Social Media/Government Web 2.0,” including a list of resources they have put together.

Lynn Dean’s presentation can be found on the YAFCEA Bethesda Chapter’s website.

Although government is finally beginning to pay attention to emerging media and especially, social media, its rate of adoption still lags far behind the non-profit and commercial sectors.  There are some sound reasons for why this is the case, but there are even better reasons for why this should change.  Here’s three of them:

1. Improved transparency
2. Enhanced collaboration, and
3. Increased ability to recruit the best and brightest

Heeding the call for more transparency in government won’t be easy but the way can be smoothed by understanding that it’s an opportunity for government agencies to highlight successes (of which there are many), while at the same time engaging in a frank conversation with the public about shortcomings.  The very nature of social media demands two-way communication and an honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses, an inevitable consequence of adopting both the tools AND the culture of new media.  The good news is that this type of interaction builds rapport and establishes trust, both of which are necessary components of a robust democracy and, if utilized correctly, can be powerful tools for accomplishing agency missions.

Another positive outcome is collaboration.  Agencies throughout the Federal sector should understand that by using social media tools they can enhance intra-agency and cross-agency communication and knowledge sharing, as well as increase collaboration with the public to help solve the problems we face as a nation.  Although this type of open collaboration may sound like an impossibility for a bureaucratic culture that values stability and silos over openness and cross-pollination, it can be accomplished.  It won’t be done easily, but it can be done.  For practical first steps that could help foster collaboration, see the National Academy of Public Administration’s new white paper entitled Enabling Collaboration: Three Priorities for the New Administration.

And finally,  the agencies that decide to adopt social media sooner rather than later will have a leg up in the race to attract the “best and the brightest.”  The current state of the economy notwithstanding, Federal agencies face a significant brain drain over the next decade.  The exodus of trained and experienced government workers needs to be addressed now and a new generation of Americans need to view government agency missions as worthy of their talent and support.  Unless agencies want to attract substandard talent, they will have to adopt new media both internally and externally and the ones that do so now will have a serious recruiting advantage over those that don’t.

Federal agencies have two choices when it comes to the blogosphere.  They can ignore it or they can embrace it.  To ignore it is to allow inevitable conversations to continue without their contribution, which can fuel disinformation.  To embrace it is to take ownership of these conversations and to ensure that an agency’s or office’s efforts and perspective are expressed with intelligence and accuracy - on their own blog, but more importantly, via posting comments and responses on others’ blogs.

From a public affairs perspective, Federal agencies and organizations must:

• Recognize the reach and resonance of blog-driven online conversation
• Create and moderate their own organizationally appropriate messages via blogs in an official capacity
• Increase their participation in others’ existing blogs, continuing conversations via blog comment features, again in an officially approved capacity.

Given the new administration’s call for more transparency and collaboration in government, now is an ideal time for Federal offices and agencies to consider the benefits of blogging and blog-comment participation, particularly for public affairs personnel.  With proper guidance, blogging and blog participation turns personnel into advocates who can speak to mission success, respond to critique and drive dialogue. 

So how do you get started?  Are there any roadmaps out there that agencies can use to guide them in starting their own blogs and setting policies for participation?  In a recently released white paper entitled “Public Affairs Blogging,” Mind & Media presents some good examples of successful blog initiatives in the Federal sector and offers practical guidance for the creation of blogging policy.  While not prescriptive (and I would love to hear of other examples that we can add to the paper in the future), the paper is intended to provide a snapshot of some of the more standardized approaches being used by various Federal agencies.  You can go to the Mind & Media website to download a copy. 

Hats off to Paul Worsham for organizing this event, which we hosted at our Alexandria office on Wednesday, February 11.  As a matter-of-fact, here’s my quick plug for Paul because he organizes lots more of these types of events around the DC area, like the Social Rockstar Happy Hour and Startup Rockstars (next event, March 12 at 6pm).  Frankly, I don’t know how he finds the time because he also holds down a full-time job, tweets (@1p) and keeps up with his own blog, Chief Social Officer.

Approximately 25 people attended the event and the conversation went non-stop for two hours and included some after-hours networking.  So, since this was a “Do’s and Dont’s of Social Media,” what did we learn?  Here’s a few highlights:

• If you haven’t yet begun, DO start participating in Social Media.  Companies or organizations that decide against this run the risk of becoming obsolete.
• DO set clear commentary policy for your company or organizational blog.  It’s OK to establish clear guidelines for allowable commentary and to police personal attacks and inflammatory comments in order to keep those out of public view.
• DO allow for negative comments, which is not the same as allowing purely personal or inflammatory attacks.  Negative comments and your response to them will give you credibility in the blogosphere.
• DO police and respond to negative commentary on other social media sites such as Twitter.  There were some good specific examples of companies that make it a part of their business to immediately respond to negative commentary about their products or services and offer assistance.  The group agreed that this was an excellent way for companies to connect with their clients and turn a possibly infuriated customer into an advocate.
• DON’T create various aliases of yourself to pass off the illusion that there is more commentary than actually exists.  Doing this is a recipe for disaster.
• DON’T sit on the sidelines assuming that Social Media is a fad.  This is happening now, it’s happening fast and it’s here to stay…so start participating!

Thanks to all who participated in this event and I hope to see YOU at the next one!

I just read in Federal Computer Week that USA.gov director Bev Godwin was named the White House’s Director of Online Resources and Interagency Development. Worth noting that the source cited was, “several blog posts.” I guess that’s as good as an anonymous source, eh? According to FCW, Godwin will be on the New Media Team rallying the federal government into using social media. I can’t say I remember other administrations having such a team. It’s an exciting time to be a participant in this government and an exciting time for communications and new media companies!

The inclusion of “Interagency Development” in her title to me, indicates an emphasis on using social media internally to perform work. Certainly noble and necessary (good article also in FCW about that), but I’m interested in how agencies can use social media to engage the public and better serve their missions. For example USDA could support a social network site where schools, students, healthcare workers, nutritionists, etc. share information about diet and exercise, show off their field day events, and generally support healthy living. Compare that to printing a bazillion “Healthy Eating” leaflets to be stuffed in kids’ backpacks. Money can be spent more wisely!