Communications

We need to stop talking about social media disasters and talk about management failures

I am beginning to get a little tired of all the headlines in the media about ‘social media disasters’. A social media disaster is when Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Blogger or another social media service goes offline for an extended period of time, has user account information stolen or loses data. These are all situations whereRead… Read more »

DigitalGov Social Media Open House

It would be inevitable to have Social Media Week in DC and not have a hosted event to showcase the exciting technologies and social media initiatives in the federal government. The federal government is a major piece of the culture in Washington, DC. The city of DC is full of historical museums, monuments, and federalRead… Read more »

How To Motivate Your Online Community

During the final session of the online communities 101course we tackled the one question that every online community manager wants answered: What is the magic formula to motivating your members so that they engage with and create content. Govloop’s Engagement Strategist, Lauren Modeen (@exilauren); and GovDelivery’s Director of Engagement Services, Joseph Porcelli (@josephporcelli), discussed howRead… Read more »

2011 Federal Digital Communications Report

A new report by GovDelivery, the 2011 Federal Digital Communications Report, highlights communication trends from over 500 government organizations and half of all federal agencies that are using GovDelivery Digital Communication Management. In honor of 2011, GovDelivery listed out a “Top 11” series in a variety of different categories. You can download the report here,Read… Read more »

Interesting elsewhere – 17 February 2012

Things which caught my eye elsewhere on the web Smart answers are smart | Government Digital Service The partnership of content designer and developer on smart answers demonstrates the oft-fabled multidisciplinary agile approach we employ at GDS, where we work in pairs wherever possible. Researching the subject, working out the logic and moulding this withRead… Read more »

Living Science: Why Social Networks For Scientists Don’t Work (Yet)

Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) — A “Facebook for Scientists”? It may sound silly, or redundant, but it’s becoming more of a reality. Maybe. A new startup based in Germany named ResearchGate has already convinced roughly 1.4 million researchers to become members and begin sharing. On it, you can search your email accounts to find peopleRead… Read more »

Words of power

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ Most of us don’t have the power which Humpty Dumpty claimed for himself to make words mean what we want them to mean. We may be able toRead… Read more »