Category: social media

Digital communication isn’t about websites

Went to an interesting session today, where GCN and the Henley Centre were presenting their second report on media and communication trends. You may remember the first iteration of this research did the rounds around government about 18 months ago.

My recollection of the first report was that it was full of fascinating stuff but there was so much to take in it was almost impossible to know where to start. This time it was different – slicker, more digestible and seemingly more authoritative because it had the baseline from 18 months ago to compare against.

One clear message this time is the rise of social media and the implications of this for government. The audience, who were mainly heads of marketing or similar, were alert to this and there was some lively discussion afterwards about the implications of all this for them.

Some of the points made included: Continue reading “Digital communication isn’t about websites”

Why don’t civil servants blog?

One of the reasons I started writing here was to talk about some the issues I have been exploring as part of the Cabinet Office’s social media review.

Briefly, the review is examining how government currently makes use of social media, what the opportunities are and what role government should or could play in social media.

Creating an environment of permission in which civil servants can operate is a tricky one for government, there are few examples of Continue reading “Why don’t civil servants blog?”

The wonderful world of web 2.0

I was lucky enough to hear both Paul Kaplan and Mark McGuinness speak at an event last week (organised by CreateKX – thanks!) about the power of social media generally, and blogging in particular.

Paul spoke on a similar theme recently for GCN and once again his enthusiasm for the possibilities of the medium shone through. He’s also consulted for some government departments and agencies on the subject so you may be familiar with his work.

I hadn’t seen Mark speak before, though I had come across his blog. He gave a positive, but importantly measured, talk about how blogging has built his reputation and business.

They’re both worth listening to if you get the chance.

Mark has posted up a whole page of resources on his blog – slides from his presentation, must read books, on blogging, links to good examples of blogging, link to an article about the legal implications of blogging, and a good explanation of what RSS is all about. Well worth a read if you want to get some background info to all this stuff.

Paul has posted up his slides too together with a podcast of his talk.

Playing the engagement game

I’ve been following David Wilcox‘s work for some time and was lucky enough to be invited along to workshop yesterday where we got to play with the engagement game that David has been developing with Drew Mackie.

The game is designed to help organisations design engagement projects by focusing on objectives / rationale and stakeholder groups and then matching the appropriate communication methods. The game has changed a lot over the last year from early versions I saw on David’s blog – there is now no board which requires a bit more thought from workshop participants and there is a real focus on developing the story of the issue and the proposed (hoped for?) progress of the engagement programme.

I can see how the game would have real application within government, as well as outside, in helping policy teams to understand the importance of designing engagement programmes strategically and considering all possible options before they go diving in.

In particular, the inclusion of many social media methods into the game was instructive – not least because it teaches participants that none of this is an add on and that all activity requires resource, commitment and time.