Designing social media policy for government: Eight essential elements

Designing social media policy for government: Eight essential elements Jana Hrdinová Natalie Helbig Catherine Stollar Peters Center for Technology in Government University at Albany, SUNY 187 Wolf Road, Suite301 Albany, NY 12205 Phone: (518) 442-3892 Fax: (518)442-3886 E-mail: info@ctg.albany.edu www.ctg.albany.edu May 2010 © 2010 The Research Foundation of State University of New York Cover Image: Copyright ©2008 Blog.SpoonGraphics. The cover image is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Introduction Governmentagenciesare increasinglylooking toleverage socialmedia toimprove the qualityofgovernmentservicesandenable greatercitizen engagement.Publiclyavailable socialmedia sites, suchasFacebookorTwitter, are providinggovernmentswithattractive optionsformeetingthese newobjectives. These sitesare widelyavailable togovernment employeesandcitizenswithInternetaccess;theyhave establishedcommunitiesand networks;andthey provide a wide range ofaudio, video, andinteractive capabilities withoutsubstantialcosts. While there are manyhighprofile examplesof governmentagenciesengagingsocialmedia tools, forthe vastmajorityofgovernmentsacrossthe US, these toolsare stillfairlynewand relativelyunexplored. The processofadoptingnewtoolsandmanagingthe related changesin workprocessesandpoliciesisnoteasyforanytype oforganization. But governmentsatalllevelsare startingtoputmore andmore effortintofiguringoutsocial media toolsthatinvolvesexploringnewways ofworkingandshifting communication patterns. Italsoinvolvesthe creation ofnewpoliciesandguidelinestoencourage proper use andtomitigate therisksofsocialmedia tools. Developinga socialmedia policycan be an importantfirststep forthose government agenciesconsideringusingsocialmedia andcan ultimatelyserve asa keyenablerfor responsiblyandeffectivelyleveragingsocialmediatools. Yet, manygovernmentsare struggling withwhatsucha policyshouldencompass andconvey. Notsurprisingly, given the emergentnature ofsocialmedia, relativelyfewU.S. governmentsactuallyhave a formalizedsetofpoliciestoguide theirown efforts, aswellasforotherstodrawon or learn from. Asa consequence, governmentsare facedwithreinterpretingandapplyingold policiesthatgovern the use ofthe Internetorcreatingcompletelynewpolicies. Tohelp fillthe gap in whatisknown aboutsocial media policyin government, the CenterforTechnologyin Government undertookan efforttoidentifyasmanygovernment socialmedia policiesaspossible,toreviewthose Conduct Access policiesforpatternsincontentandapproach, to talkwiththose experiencedin developingthese policiesandthose seekingguidance in thisarea, Management andtoproduce a newresource toguide Social Media governmentsocialmedia policydevelopment efforts. The studybeginstoanswerthe question, 6. Security whatare the core elementsofa governmentsocial Use media policy? Ouranalysisidentifiedeight essentialelementsfora socialmedia policy: 1) 5. Content 4. Employee employee access, 2)accountmanagement, 3) acceptable use, 4)employee conduct, 5)content, 6) security, 7)legalissues, and8)citizen conduct. 2 The analysisfocusedon 26publiclyavailable governmentsocialmedia documents, and resultsfrominterviews with32governmentprofessionalswhowere alreadyusingorwere consideringusingsocial media tools1. Overall, oursearchidentifiedtwo typesof documentsbeingused bygovernmentstocommunicate withemployeesaboutthe use of socialmedia:1)guidelinesand2)policies. Ofthe26documentswe reviewed, 10were officialsocialmedia policies, 12were socialmedia guidelines, and4were a mixture ofboth. In general, guidelinesprovide advice on howto bestuse socialmedia toolstoachieve a desiredresult, suchaselicitingcitizen engagementorprovidingsuggestionsforcreating interestingcontent. Policies, on the otherhand,representofficialpositionsthatgovern the use ofsocialmedia byemployeesin governmentagencies, suchasdetailingwhat constitutesacceptableuse oroutliningofficial processesforgainingaccesstosocialmedia sites. The documentswe reviewedvaried withrespecttothe degree ofdetaildevotedtoanyone element, withsome coveringa range ofelementsin brief, andotherscoveringfewer elementsin greaterdetail.2 Forinstance, the UnitedStates(US)GeneralServices Administration (GSA)Handbook for Social Media combinesbothpolicyandguidelinesinto one document, withthe goalofcreatinga one-stop-shop forinforming employeesaboutall aspectsofsocialmedia use. Some, suchastheNew Media andthe AirForce handbook, comprehensivelydetailthe agency’soverallpolicy, strategy, andpreferredwaytoengage withthe public. Meanwhile the State ofUtahSocial Media Guidelinesfocusedon specific elementssuchasthe “rulesofengagement” withsocialmedia foremployees. Thisreportprovidesa briefoverviewofsocialmedia use in governmentwithparticular focuson the typesofuse bygovernmentprofessionals; itthen presentsdetailed descriptionsofthe eightessentialelementsidentifiedthroughthe analysis;andcloseswith briefguidance on strategiesforgettingstarted. Social Media Use in Government Publiclyavailable socialmedia sitesstartedwithin people’sprivate lives, andwere mainly usedtoconnectwithfriendsandfamily. However, asmore andmore people startedto recognize the simplicityandvalue ofcommunicatingthroughsocialmedia sites, the use expandedtothe workplace. In the lasttwoyears, governmentshave seen more andmore requestsbytheiremployeestouse socialmedia todotheirwork. While itseemslike a naturalprogression for governmenttoconnecttocitizensthroughsocialmedia, orto“meet the citizenswhere theyare,” understandinghowtotake advantage ofthese newtoolsin the contextofgovernmentiscomplex. Recognizingthe differentreasonsgovernmentemployeesengage in socialmedia use and howtheysometimesoverlap isvaluable in creatinga socialmedia policy. Throughour 1 Fora detailed methodology anda listof allreviewed policies,seeAppendixAandB. 2 AppendixCcontains a table detailing coverage of the eightcomponents within each ofthe26 reviewed documents 3 interviewswithgovernmentrepresentatives,we heardthree distinct waysemployeesare usingsocialmedia toolswhile atwork: Employeeusefor official agencyinterests:Officialagencyuse impliesthatan employee’suse ofsocialmedia isforthe expresspurpose ofcommunicatingan agency’s broadinterestsorspecificprogrammaticandpolicyinterests. Forexample, the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency(EPA)hasitsown YouTube channeldedicatedtoits activities. Additionally,manyofEPA’sprogram andpolicyareasmaintain theirown blogs. In otherinstances, an employee maybeaskedtorun a conteston IdeaScale on behalfofthe agency, programarea, orpolicyarea. There are alsomanyofficialusesof socialmedia thatare notcitizen facing, suchasinternalblogsorwikisforcollaboration amongagencyprojectteams. Employeeusefor professional interests: Professionaluse impliesthatan employee’s use ofsocialmedia isforthe purpose offurtheringtheirspecificjob responsibilitiesor professionaldutiesthroughan externallyfocusedsite. Forexample,almost30,000 governmentemployeeshave signedup asmembersatthe externalsiteGovLoop.comto engage withotherprofessionalsin a communityofpractice. Anotherwayemployees mightengage in externalsitesisbyaccessingFacebooktoviewofficial government pages, suchasthe White House Facebookpage,toresearchinformation on a newly issueddirective. While use forprofessionalinterestsare beneficialtothe workof governmentbyenablingemployeestoinformthemselveson importantissuesorto collaborate withtheirpeers, the socialmedia toolorsite the employee isusingisnot maintainedormonitoredbythe agencyitself. The employee isaccessingsitesand settingup accountsownedbyprivate entitiestoconsume andexchange information. Again, internally, professionalsoften collaborate through varioustechnologies, but professionaluse impliesgoingoutside ofthe internalnetworkofthe agency. Employeeusefor personal interests:Usingsocialmedia forpersonalinterestshas nothingtodowithan employee’sjob dutiesforthe organization. Forexample, an employee maywanttochecktheirpersonalFacebookpage, sendouta personalTweet, orwatchthe latestviral YouTube videoduring a lunchhouroranother designated breakduring workhours. In addition, outside ofworkhours, employeesmight maintain a blogrelatedtoa hobby, whichhasnothingtodowiththeir government position. These usesare notmutuallyexclusive andsometimesthe linesbetween professionaland personalorprofessionalandofficialagencyusesare ratherfluid. Forexample, government employeesmightspendtheirworktime networkingon GovLoop bysharingideasand experienceswithpeersin theAcquisition2.0 group andsharingrecipeswiththe Gov Gourmet group. Ourstudyrevealedthat governmentsare stilltryingtofigure outhowto putboundariesaround an employee’spersonal, professional, andofficialagencyuses. Each use hasdifferentsecurity, legal, andmanagerialimplicationsandgovernmentagenciesare taskedwithstrikinga balance between usingsocial media forofficialagencyinterestsonly andallowingallemployeesaccessforpersonalandprofessionalinterests. 4 ... - tailieumienphi.vn