The US Government Catches The Twitter Bug, And Amazingly, Does It Well
For, example: Twitter. Turns out the messaging service's 140 character limit and easy following/unfollowing is a really effective way to check up on our public servants. And it's certainly easier to read than most .gov websites.
Compare some of the below government twitter feeds with the the mixed bag that have been corporate Twitter experiements, or the disaster when some journalistic enterprises (other than @alleyinsider) have tried to get in on the microblogging game. Here are a few of our favorites:
@CSIState - Country specific information and travel alerts from the US Department of State
@foodrecalls - The Food and Drug Adminsitration tweets when food products have been deemed unsafe, about once a day.
@jetlab - Rocket science from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
@NIHforHealth - Research reports of the National Institutes of Health
@PeaceCorps - Press releases from the Peace Corps
@TSABlogTeam - The Transportation Security Administration, which operates the widely-hated system of airport security checkpoints, links to a series of surprisingly thoughtful articles about its mission.
@USGS - The US Geological Survey. Not just rocks, also tweets about climate change, natural disasters, and alternative energy.
Of course, not every government twitter feed works well. A few that need to be rethought or dropped:
@HomelandSecurit - Department of Homeland Security. Tweets the national threat level ("yellow.") Both the color codes and this twitter should be abandoned.
@SenateFloor (and @HouseFloor) - US Senate/House actions. Actual tweet: "Vote: Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Concur in the House Amdt. to the Senate Amdt. to." Well-intentioned but not useful.
@USAgov - "Official web portal of the U.S. federal government." Infrequently updated, tinyurl links go to the wrong pages.
@USCIS - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Tweets which CIS offices are closed -- of value solely to CIS employees, not to its customers.
Got other favorites and turkeys? Let your fellow SAI readers know in the comments!
See also:
The Cops Are On Twitter. But That's A Good Thing
Things Better Left Off Twitter: The Funeral Of A 3-Year-Old Boy
Twitter's Corporate Users Get A New Marketing Tool
Corporate Twitters Worth Following - And Some You Should Avoid
One huge dilemma gov't tweeting dilemma is whether whoever is running it is authorized to say so many things. Another is being seen as "approving" someone's content if they are @replied.
How would we rather see the government tweeting?
There are two other related challenges for government agencies--as well as for corporations and other organizations.
The first challenge for government agencies, corporations and other organizations is that they are NOT a single person. Even if the agency/corporation assigns an individual to be its "face" in the 2.0 world, how can a single person represent an enormous organization?
The second challenge is a Catch-22 of 2.0. Web 2.0 is about authenticity, transparency and participation. These attributes add up to having a single persona, blurring the line between personal self and professional self. How can that individual whose job it is to be the "face" of a given agency/corporation/organization truly be authentic and transparent if he/she is supposed to be representing that agency/corporation/organization... and yet.... how can he/she NOT be fully authentic and transparent in the 2.0 world where anything less yields skepticism and distrust?
I do know that because of the technical crowd that I interact with on twitter, I am able to see new ideas and technology and ask the question, how can this apply to us in Government. If it does apply, I will look into it more, if it doesn't I can file it away as something we looked into, but did not pursue for whatever reason. I can say technology influence definitely helped me make my informed decision when it came to throwing my support behind WordPress as a blogging platform. We did eventually choose WordPress as our Enterprise blogging solution and it has definitely moved us ahead in opening the lines of communication and collaboration within our community.
Steve - thanks.
Great comments so far from people who I both know from Twitter and others who I'd enjoy conversing with.
Along with the above Twitter handles, I maintain a list (one of many) at http://twitter.pbwiki.com/USGovernment which you may want to bookmark for reference; I will be updating it in the next few days with some more tweeps.
To your point about other favorites/resources: Over at BearingPoint we've launched a new directory of Federal agencies and individuals using Twitter (along with industry, state and local, the Hill and International government as well). You can visit http://www.GovTwit.com for the directory, and follow http://twitter.com/GovTwit to be notified whenever there are updates.