What The heck Is Social Media?

What The Heck IsSocial Media?

Robert M. FordJefferson Awards for Public Service

r.ford@jeffersonawards.org Twitter: fordrm

Soundfamiliar?

Social Media: A definition

“Online applications, platforms and media which aim to facilitate interaction, collaboration and the sharing of content.”

“Social media is people having conversations online.”

or two

• Increase collaboration between team members• Improve communication efficiency and

effectiveness• Retain intellectual capital• Foster community

• Recruit talent• Drive innovation

Why Social Media?

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

Who is doing what?[Baby Boomers]

[Source: Forrester]

Publish a blogPublish your own web pagesUpload video you createdUpload audio/music you createdWrite articles or stories & postPost ratings / reviews

Comment on someone else’s blogContribute to online forumsContribute to / edit wiki articles

Use RSS feedsAdd “tags” to Web pages or photos“Vote” for web sites online

Maintain profile on social networkVisit social network sites

Read blogsWatch video from other usersListen to podcastsRead online forumsRead customer ratings / reviews

None of the above

16%

36%

17%

24%

68%

28%

Social Technographics - By Age Group

6

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

42%

43%

37%

65%

86%

9%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

18 - 2436%

51%

23%

78%

77%

10%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

31%

44%

29%

55%

77%

14%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

25 - 3427%

40%

21%

52%

72%

19%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

22%

37%

22%

34%

75%

21%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

35 - 4421%

42%

19%

32%

68%

27%

Male

Female

Social Technographics - By Age Group

7

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

14%

37%

21%

24%

70%

26%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

45 - 5419%

34%

13%

25%

66%

31%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

12%

28%

12%

11%

59%

38%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

55+27%

40%

21%

52%

72%

19%

Male

Female

Who isdoing what?

36% of Matures watch and read content created

by others

43% of Gen Xers read/post on message

boards

27% of Baby Boomers read blogs

62% of Millenials socialize online

25% of Gen Xers write a blog

Where are they doing it?

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto

TrustsAdverts

Trusts Recommendations

14% 78%

Social Media Mantra

OpenHonest

AuthenticDialogue

Simple steps to getting started

Listen

Participate

RelinquishControl

Engage!

LinkedIn is your business

Rolodex - connecting you

to your business network

Facebook is your personal

address book - connecting you to your family and friends

15

• Aug ‘08 = 100MM users

• Jan ‘09 = 150MM users

• Apr ‘09 = 200MM users

• 35+ users DOUBLED in last 60 days

April 8, 2009: Facebook Hits 200MM Users

16

Facebook Demographics

Twitter is a virtual water cooler, where

you can listen in, and jump into

conversations that interest you

18

• Feb 2009 – 10MM users, globally

(700% AGR)– 4MM users in US (>1000%

AGR)– Largest demographic is 45-

54 year-olds

Twitter Growth

• Training • Effective communications• Incident response• Strategic public relations• Knowledge management• Recruiting

Examples of how local government can use social media

Case Study: Department of Homeland Security

IdeaFactory Innovate, Collaborate, Succeed

Background Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has a large (50,000+)

workforce, distributed across 450 airports and other locations

Issue: How TSA can engage employees and ensure that every employee

has a voice in the way the agency and its operations evolve?

How TSA can collect constant, fresh input and perspectives on improvements?

How TSA can disseminate information about new and existing programs, initiatives, and policies and provide a forum for communication?

Case Study: Department of Homeland Security

Solution: IdeaFactory

A participatory, collaborative and transparent website that allows TSA employees to develop, promote, and improve innovative ideas

Employees post ideas, and rate and comment on those that interest them, participating in two-way communication with agency

leadership, TSA program offices, and each other.

Results: 40 innovative ideas (out of 9,000) have been implemented over

the last two years, with more than 25,000 employees visiting the site.

Employees are engaged and have higher morale

Senior Leadership and TSA Program Managers get meaningful input from the workforce and have a reliable communication channel to reach frontline employees

Case Study: Department of Homeland Security

Case Study: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Issue: Difficulty in raising public awareness

Solution: Launched an integrated campaign (FEMA InFocus) across key social

media platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. FEMA was one of the first federal agencies to initiate user agreements between social vendors such as Google, Facebook.

Case Study: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Twitter: femainfocus

Case Study: Federal Emergency Management Agency

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FEMA

Case Study: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Facebook: Federal Emergency Management Agency

Case Study: National Institutes of Health

Partnered with Wikimedia to increase the availability of accurate medical and health information

Case Study: National Institutes of Health

Issue: Seeking to make health and science information more accessible

and reliable.

Solution: Joined forces with the Wikimedia Foundation (the nonprofit

organization that operates the Wikipedia® online encyclopedia) to improve online health information.

Hosted Wikipedia Academy - a public outreach event aimed at engaging academics and other subject-matter experts. Experienced Wikipedia authors explained Wikipedia’s structures and community policies to NIH employees unfamiliar with wiki culture or online communities, teaching them how to contribute to Wikipedia.

Jefferson Awards

SharingServiceStories.org

Jefferson Awards:Sharing Service Stories

SharingServiceStories.org

People can post their own service stories, including:- Embedding YouTube videos

- Selecting service category

- Upload images

- ‘Tag’ story for easy searching

Jefferson Awards:Nominating for Jefferson Awards

SharingServiceStories.org

People can nominate ‘Unsung Heroes’ for Jefferson Awards - Easy to complete

- Nomination automatically routed to local media partner

- Details of nominee, nominator and organization automatically captured in CRM system

Jefferson Awards:Find Volunteer Opportunities

SharingServiceStories.org

People can find volunteer opportunities in their local communities:- Leverages Google’s ‘All For Good’

initiative

- Searchable by City/State or Zip

- Can further search by interest areas (e.g. Health, Youth, Environment)

Jefferson Awards:Sharing Service Stories Widget

SharingServiceStories.org

The widget is our trojan horse:- Easily embeddable on any web

site, blog, social network

- Content can be filtered by location and/or interest area (e.g. Youth stories in Delaware)

- Drives traffic back to SharingServiceStories.org

- Viral nature (one click to get one line of code)

Jefferson Awards:Sharing Service Stories Widget

SharingServiceStories.org

The widget is our trojan horse:- Allows volunteer opportunities to

easily be embedded in any site

- Volunteer opportunities can be filtered by location and/or interest area (e.g. Health in Delaware)

?Any Questions?

Acknowledgements

• All images sourced from Flickr.com, under Creative Commons licenses.