Embracing & Managing Negative Feedback
The immediate access to citizen feedback rendered possible by our digital world presents new and faster means for government organizations to improve their services.
Social Media
Gov Masters of Social Media Storytelling
During the Second Annual State and Local Government Innovators Virtual Summit, keynote speaker Akash Karia delivered a thought-provoking presentation on how to improve your communication skills to be as effectively as a TED talk presenter. Karia identified storytelling as the key for government agencies, and any public entity, to better deliver their agency’s messages andRead… Read more »
Beyond Facebook and Twitter – How Government Organizations Leverage Other Social Platforms Effectively
As detailed in the recent announcement from Center for The Business of Government Executive Director, Dan Chenok, I am happy to be starting my work with the Center as Innovation and Social Media Fellow. I plan to explore innovation, social media, and the intersection of the two as government’s look to better achieve their missions andRead… Read more »
Turning Mobile Phones Into Citizen Engagement Portals
This interview is an excerpt from our recent guide, Top Challenges & Solutions From State and Local Governments, which examines 16 case study examples transforming the way government safeguards information and technology. Teens and young adults are often accused of being addicted to their phones, but they are not alone: 90 percent of Americans own aRead… Read more »
5 Website Best Practices from the 2015 Center for Digital Government Award Winners
If you’ve ever worked on a website project, you know one of the first questions a designer asks is: What are your favorite websites? But, it’s not always easy to come up with a list of the best websites. Great websites have to be memorable, modern, unique, and free of frustrating glitches—no small feat for mostRead… Read more »
Feds All Over Social Media: A Final Roundup and Takeaways
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been talking about how federal agencies use social media platforms, and more specifically, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. There are a ton of other sites out there that speak to various groups of people or have particular uses. Because it’s important for government to reach its audience in theRead… Read more »
Awesome Fed Channels on YouTube
Back in March 2009, GSA signed an agreement with YouTube which would allow government agencies to post content to this site in compliance with federal terms and conditions. By 2012, every major federal agency had a YouTube channel, and some were even featuring content specifically created for the platform. Compared to the other platforms I’veRead… Read more »
Key Takeaways from the (Few) Feds on Instagram
There are far fewer agencies or departments on Instagram than on Facebook or Twitter. And that’s relatively logical if you consider that it is the far more visual platform of the three I’ve looked at so far. But what I love about Instagram is that you don’t have to have amazing pictures (like NASA orRead… Read more »
10 of the Funniest Yelp Reviews of Government
If you somehow haven’t heard of Yelp, it’s a website and app where anyone can review just about anything. People mostly seem to head to Yelp when they’re busting to share their glowing praise or their boiling rage. Now, as announced by DigitalGov, Yelp has a terms of service for official government use. Agencies can claim orRead… Read more »
Top Takeaways from Some of the Best Fed Twitter Feeds
Continuing my review of federal agency/department use of social media, this week I’m looking at Twitter (missed the Facebook review last week? Check it out here). After reviewing more than 100 Twitter feeds, I learned a lot. Some agencies tweet too much. I know a lot of that is personal preference, but I find itRead… Read more »