Gov2.0 is NOT a Social Media Strategery
What is Government 2.0?
Gov2.0 is Government run for Citizens. Each citizen must be able engage with the daily activity to government to satisfy their personal self-interest. It is about citizens getting what they want when and how they want it, and being able to converse with individual Government employees directly and with each other.
What Gov 2.0 is NOT
I am fairly sure Gov2.0 is NOT a departmental twitter account, a Facebook page run by the PR Team, a LinkedIn ‘presence’, a Social Media ’strategy’ (You do however need a real strategy), SecondLife Avatar, or Anything-with-an-Approval-Step. Social media tools are great, and the social bit implies individual choice – not corporate guidelines or instructions. So stop trying to create policies and rules, and just let people choose, and remember the ability to choose to do something is the same as the ability to choose not to do something.
Specifics:
So we need some specifics to enact, something that we have to do . I guess saying “find your soul, and live honestly” doesn’t necessarily help. Some vaguely concrete things:
Clear goals
The organisation must know what it is really about; the thing that makes you get up every day. Why does the organization exist and why does anybody care? If this identity is missing it doesn’t matter how much you engage with citizens, you still suck. If you have purpose and your team feels it then your customer has a chance of feeling it too. Share enjoyment, meaning and engagement.
Trust
Assuming that the team is engaged in the purpose of the organisation and is genuinely engaged in trying to help citizens, give them the tools and let them get on with it. Empowered individuals communicating directly on a personal level is pretty much the definition of anything 2.0
Identity
For meaningful human exchange to take place both parties need a robust identity that fits the transaction. Even for an online discussion I cannot understand the validity of what you say unless I know who you are. For transactions that require personalisation, fulfillment, or an ongoing relationship identity is important for both parties. I feel strongly that I own my identity – you just need to know who I am so that we can have a meaningful exchange over a period.
Fulfillment
This is the bit about doing what you say. If you make a committment you need to be able to follow through, if you are unable to make a commitment your service is probably insufficient. This is very much a 1.0/1.5 (or earlier) concept – the ability to execute on your word.
Openness
Making something transparent is harder than keeping it private – so this is extra work, and part of modern. I have the right to expect this for specific enquiries (what is the current status of my FOIA request? when can i expect a response?), and to be engaged during policy formation.
Joined-up information
Where possible and relevant it should be possible to have a single view. This allows personalisation which is a key part of human communication. If I said this on your forum and made this comment on your blog, you probably want to know that when you are talking to me. If I have an outstanding Service Request for this thing, you probably want to know that and it’s status when I talk to you.
Human scale community
Community is between actual people with personalities and opinions. If you lost yours somewhere you probably will not be having many conversations anyhow. The idea of departmental communications is married to the old need to control. There are good reasons for group accounts, but communication during a conversation is personal.
Community involves meeting people where they are, on their terms, not being judgemetnal and all that stuff – I cannot give you guidance on how to be more human, I am still working on that myself.
Effectiveness and efficiency
Hardly a 2.0 question and always pressing, as things go faster and more communication happens we need to have the tools and methods to be able to manage it. Strangely non-sexy, but really important to be able to get things done.
Is that all?
Probably not. Let me know if I missed something, or you agree, or especially if you disagree.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Awesome! very similar concepts!
http://www.slideshare.net/silona/social-networks-and-government-application
slide 54 esp!
no wonder several people on twitter pinged me saying we have similar concepts in mind :-)
Cheers!