City of Greeley Adopts a Social Media Policy

Ok, so I'm not going to go to indepth in this. Mostly I wanted to get it out here so that everyone could take a look. The ink is hardly dry on the City Manager's signature, HR is working on where to file it, and the Employee masses have not see it yet.

City of Greeley's Social Media Policy & Employee Request Form

Main goals here where to get a policy in place to provided standards, guidelines, and directions for the City as a whole and the individual employees regarding social media. While allowing management to maintain control of the public face that the City and its employees are presenting. I venture a guess that the policy will morph over time as Social Media become more and more a part of everyone's day to day work flow. For now I am happy the City has accepted the fact that Social Media is becoming an effective tool not only from an official information source but also as a tool for individual employees to collaborate and communicate with their own industry.

So have a read and feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

6 Questions to Ask a GeoProfessional Who Is Not Using Twitter

Before I ask you anything, we need to shift your brain a bit about Social Media. See I know your first thought was, “It’s a fad, like Op cord shorts.” I know I’m dating myself. But let’s start there. First watch the video below, it will help to start or at least prime your mind for a mental shift in perception. Or maybe just open it a bit more;




So I was there, 3 months ago. Not sure about the whole Social Media wave. After using Twitter for the past three weeks to help shape the Social Media Policy for the City of Greeley, I have made a list of questions you need to answer for me.

Why are you not using Twitter???
Not the first question, but it will lead into all the reasons why not. Yes, I know all the reasons and let’s get those out of the way to start with. After working on our city’s social networking policy I have heard most of them;

• “It sounds silly.”
• “I and you don’t have enough time to socialize.”
• “I can’t keep up with what I need to know now.”
• “I don’t understand how to do it.”
• “I think it will take too much time.”
• “It is too narcissistic or self centered.”
• “It is a poor substitute for a real relationship”
• “I don’t have anything interesting to say.”
• “I don’t see how it could help my business.”
• “I don’t know how to get started.”
• “Nobody I know is using it.”
• “I don’t know how to filter what I need.”

Fine, think about those, then answer the following;

1. Why not allow yourself access to more information?

We all use or are a member of a listserv. A listserv is great, for questions, finding data, and posting about jobs. Guess what? Twitter does this, but it also allows you to post, as often as you like, about what you are working on now. It provides a better avenue for letting everyone know what kind of GIS work you are doing. What software you are using. What bugs you are having. What works. What doesn’t. We don’t seem to use our listserv’s for that purpose and I’m not sure that it would be the best avenue for that. So Twitter fills that hole and covers much more.

(I’ll add a few folks I find helpful to follow on Twitter in each section, there are a ton more, but these will get you started)

• Follow: @mashable, @gadgetweet, @TechCrunch, @webofdesign, @gisuser

2. Why not collaborate with more GIS professionals?

Again the listserv’s, trade magazines, conferences do a great job allowing us to collaborate via our industry focus, but why limit yourself. Why not follow GIS folks in California, Maryland, India, Australia, etc. Software folks from Adobe, Microsoft, RIM, Trimble, etc. Then not just follow, but interact, engage, ask questions, give solutions, provide information, etc. The more we can collaborate the more we can learn, grow and improve. Let the world know what you are doing. Funny thing is, they will listen.

• Follow: @GEOpdx, @gisuser, @GISpathway, @GeoDAWG, @geobabbler, @gletham, @amandahstaub, @roycesimpson, @gezjames, @MapsRus

3. Why not develop more relationships with leaders in the industry?

You will find that there lots of GIS folks on Twitter, CIO’s, IT leaders, ESRI developers, Microsoft developers, Adobe developers, etc. Wouldn’t you like to have the ear of a specific ESRI’s platform developer at one point or another? I think you’ll find that you can via Twitter. They want to hear from you and collaborate as well, some more than others, but you’ll get the feel.

• Follow: @jiriteach, @Esri, @Tim_Craig, @LindaHecht, @agup, @mikehogan, @billschrier, @ChrisSpagnuolo, @pmbatty, @mradd, @douwman, @ev

4. Why not keep abreast of technology trends, software releases, and industry commentary up to the minute?

Via Twitter you will see immediately when the next beta version is available, when the full release is available, when code solutions are posted, when that patch you have been waiting for is out, how folks have used different packages to do their work, what the industry trends are, etc. For an industry such as ours where GIS seems to lead in most IT shops I can't express how valuable Twitter is as a resource for this purpose. You can always wait for the industry magazine to show up on your desk to read about the new items, but why wait?

• Follow: @Geothinkers, @google, @thegisforum, @googlemaps, @govtechnews, @MichaelHyatt, @halvorson, @janepyle, @AdobeApps

5. Why not create more visibility for you, your company, your product, your GIS work?

Can anyone in this economy say that they don’t want to get more visibility for their work, products, city, government, etc.? The more you share about what you are doing the more interest may be generated and who know who may be interested. Even at the local government level drawing people in is a major concern and any way we can improve our revenue streams should be taken seriously. And it’s so easy, just get your name out there.

• Follow: Just search for any group, product, location of your choice
  

6. Why not try it?

You can always turn it off, but I bet you won’t. Give yourself two weeks to give it a try. Even if you can’t access it from work, sign up at home and create an account. I’ll bet that if you go at it like you would an industry listserv and follow those in the industry of your choice you’ll be shocked at the amount of value you’ll find. Or even if you only follow areas that appeal to you personally I bet you’ll be shocked. Let me know in two weeks if you turned it off.

And if I have been able to convince some of you to give Twitter a try, here is a great tutorial on all things Twitter: Twitter Tutorial
The GIS community is extremely good at networking and collaboration, Twitter will expand that positive trait and improve our community. Don’t turn away from it, take advantage of it.

~References & thanks:
@MichaelHyatt and his blogs for much inspiration.
@mashable for all things social media and Twitter tutorial
@gletham for his survey of GeoProfessionals using twitter

Twitter Survey Results:
• GISuser - http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/18223/28/
• Personal on GISCO - http://www.greeleygov.com/GIS/Documents/HTML/SurveyResults.htm

Social Media & Local Government

It seems like many local government agencies in the US are in catch-up mode with how to deal with Social Media and their employees. Michael Hyatt blogs that there is a 'Twitter Life Cycle' for organizations. I believe this cycle is true for the whole social media scene.

Excerpt from 'Where is Your Organization in the Twitter Life Cycle?" ~Michael Hyatt

• Stage 1: Ridicule. The executives initially think these technologies are silly
• Stage 2: Control. The executives grow concerned about abuse of the technology
• Stage 3: Experimentation. The executives begin experimenting with the technology themselves
• Stage 4: Adoption. The executives start using the technology themselves
• Stage 5: Dedication. The executives wonder how the organization could function without the technology

In addition to these I believe that most local government agencies have a 'Stage 2.5', the One Way Street stage. This is where different segments of the agency are able to justify the use of social media as a promotion tool, but define it as a one way communication tool. No return collaboration, communication, or community is allowed.

In this stage the face of the agency on the networks is generic and is used only for events advertising , emergency notification, or disruptions like construction. All other employees of the agency still fall into stage 2, under a strict control enforced by the local IT Department.

Once an agency beings to move into Stage 3 a flurry of activity occurs from both the Public Information Office and the IT Department. Both working on how to maintain control, service the public, and assure security. This is the stage at which the agencies social media policy is defined.

The social network landscape is still virtually unknown by the agency, so the first draft of the policy is usually broad and strict due to the fact that abuse of the technology is still the focus of the agency. It is during this period that those employees that are 'Evangelists' for social media should aid their management in understanding the business benefits to them as an employee, and to the agency.

This is where I sit today, on the evangelist side of the fence, with a draft of our Social Media Policy in hand. I will keep you up to date on if we make it to Stage 4 and what our policy ultimately looks like when it is done.

Does your local government have a Social Media Policy?

Apology and Mental Shift

Breaking into a area that I thought I would never do, but I have to thank Facebook for dragging me into the social networking world. My opinion of social networks, mostly My Space, was never real favorable. I saw it mostly as a way for the college and high school set to post information and to keep in touch. Nothing wrong with that, it just didn't seem to fit into my or my family's lifestyle. And this is not to say that I am not technology aware, as an IT manager it is part of my job to stay abreast of what is happening in the technology world. So I was well aware of the rolling wave of interest and use in social networks.
Then the domino's started to fall. Along comes an idea for a family reunion on my wife's side. Well I knew that Facebook was a good way to track down folks around the country. And Wow did it work. Now Facebook is part of our lifestyle and family communication landscape. Thought more about the social networking opportunities in the professional landscape, so I joined LinkedIn. Seemed interesting, but not a lot of information communication between folks. Then our office began to discuss social networking policies for the city and I attended the ESRI UC in San Diego. Twitter was huge as a communication tool. So I joined. Completely sold on the business benefits in about 4 hours of trying to keep up on the non-stop information stream. And finally I'm blogging, just because there is so much information that pertain to projects we are doing or planning or trying to get accomplished that I feel like I now need a place to brain dump once in awhile.
So for my first blog I am making a public apology, I am sorry that I ever doubted, scoffed, or scorned the benefits or value of the social networking revolution. I am sold, you have me on Facebook, on Twitter, and now you have me with Blogger. I follow at home, I follow on my Blackberry, and soon I will follow at work. But I promise that I will also add to the community and be part of its advancement.
Now my role here has changed into being a social networking advocate by helping to create a social networking policy, to help change the mentality of management regarding social networks, and to promote the overwhelming business benefits these networks provide. Funny thing, change.