Twitter in the Public Sector

Last month Kable had a very interesting article on how the public sector is using Twitter: ‘The public tweet‘.

The article discusses how local and national government are slowly beginning to embrace this platform as a means of communication with their constituents.

The government’s director of digital engagement, Andrew Stott, has been posting tweets since the spring, and Whitehall now has a semi-official strategy for using the service, developed by Neil Williams, the head of corporate digital channels at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

We discussed this strategy in an earlier blog post titled Civil Servants Encouraged to use Twitter

Leeds City Council has also been using Twitter to communicate with residents, through a handful of feeds managed by its corporate communications department, and 10 or so put out more informally by teams working in specific areas. The latter group includes the council’s pest control team, and the South Leeds Hub, a community centre for young people in the city.

There is also a service named Tweetminster which allows you to follow MPs’ tweets: http://tweetminster.co.uk/.

Social media, such as twitter, is beginning to play an important role within government as a means to encourage more communication and openness.  It will be interesting to see how its role will be developed in the future election.  We know it played a role in the US elections.  Let us know your thoughts.

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Social Networks – Useful or Not

Social media is the topic of an interesting discussion on the NCVO website –  to discover whether it is of benefit to organisations, especially those in the voluntary and community sector.  Social networks/media are online spaces such as facebook and twitter.

The general consensus is that it is of benefit and one of the participants has submitted five good points:

• It’s free market intelligence
• Engage with your supporters and improve your customer service
• Raise your profile and increase your reach
• Collaborate with your colleagues and develop your knowledge
• It levels the playing field between large and small organisations

Submitted by Claire Rollinson on Tue, 29/09/2009 – 13:21

Can social media help you find a job?

The City University London thinks it can: Using social media to find a job.

The article features Linkedin, a professional orientated social network for making contacts etc, and using Twitter for job hunting.

If you’re not familiar with Linkedin take a few minutes to watch this video by Commoncraft.

Twittering Adult Learning

A recent survey reports that 40% of all tweets are “pointless babble” and that only 8.7% of messages have some form of value.  Well we found one of those useful messages on NIACE Dysgu Cymru’s twitter page: http://twitter.com/NIACEDC.

They have created a great fun video promoting adult learning.

More tweets

Social Media and in particular Twitter is certainly becoming very popular.

This week we read that Labour have given Kerry McCarthy MP the job of improving their presence in social media sites such as facebook and twitter.  She will train MPs in the use of these tools and promote best practice.

The BBC have quoted Ms McCarthy as saying:

“Rather than being something completely new, campaigning using new media is simply doing what we’ve always done in a new setting – and rather than replacing traditional ways of doing things, it is about making traditional campaigning methods even more effective.”

Ms McCarthy twitters at http://twitter.com/KerryMP

Elsewhere…

Stratagem, a local lobbying company, have introduced social media into their refreshed website and they can now be found tweeting at http://twitter.com/stratagemni.

NICVA is leading the way for the voluntary sector having incoporated many social media tools into their communityni website.  They can be found tweeting at http://twitter.com/NICVAweb , alongside their Chief Executive Seamus McAleavey http://twitter.com/SeamusMcAleavey

Civil Servants encouraged to use twitter

A twitter template strategy has been created by Neil Williams, of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), to encourage government departments to embrace the microblogging site as a means to improve communication.

The template strategy is a good read if you’re thinking about twittering on behalf of your organisation.

Read the original post on the cabinet office blog: Template Twitter strategy for Government Departments.

BBC Website article: Government advice urges tweeting