We cherish the information that social media allows us to gain. We also feel like we need to know everything all of the time. These things actually call for a reexamination of what social media can do well. And, living in Washington, DC, I am specifically thinking about how the government can use social media more effectively…
1. Be Relevant: Because we have so much information, we think and sometimes feel like we need to have everything all the time. It is not only impossible, but counter productive. So when I say be relevant, I mean share with your audience the information that they most need…not everything you know.
2. Be Accurate: A lot of times social media is home to knee jerk reactions, opinions, or “news.” As a source of government communications, its important that the social media coming from these sources maybe come out slower, but be more accurate…because information coming from the official social media account has a greater impact on the population. So be accurate, even if that means being slow.
3. Be Informative: Let’s face it, you have information that might not be available to everyone else…and even if you don’t, you have access to officials that others might not. So be informative and share information that truly adds value to the citizens’ experience and interaction with social media.
These are just 3 ideas, but I think that they needed restating because its too often that we just don’t see these things being instituted by government and their social media channels.