A blog about government-to-citizen digital communication and engagement, Government 2.0, GovDelivery, and other e-government issues
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Promoting Your Mobile Apps

October 8th, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in E-Government | Government 2.0 | Mobile - (1 Comments)

In today’s world, the way we consume information has changed at the speed of light—or perhaps more accurately, at the speed of electrons.

The quaint days a few decades ago when television was dominated only by the big three networks or when the daily newspaper was the primary source of news are long gone. Today, consumers have multiple avenues from which to gather information, and they expect to have that information delivered when they want it, in a way that’s convenient for them.

For more and more people, that means using a mobile application (mobile app) on a smartphone or other digital device so that we can automatically access the data we’re seeking, whether we’re looking for paint-color matching software or an app that reminds us our oil needs to be changed.IRS2Go app

Government agencies are increasingly moving to meet this consumer demand by developing and releasing their own apps to satisfy citizen needs. For instance, the Internal Revenue Service released IRS2Go early this year in order to make it easier for people to find out the status of their tax returns. A subsequent update to the app included integrating an application programming interface (API) with GovDelivery Digital Communication Management (DCM). By doing that, users could easily sign up to receive timely tax tips via email. The impact of this integration was an enormous increase in direct outreach for the IRS. In the first month, more than 14,000 subscribers signed up to receive tax tips from the IRS, and 72% of those subscriptions could be traced directly to the mobile app! (As a point of comparison, subscriptions to the same topic last year during the same one-month period only totaled 4,390.)

Or in the case of the U.S. Census Bureau, the mobile app they developed and released called “America’s Economy” pushes out important economic information such as retail sales data or new construction numbers directly to user’s digital devices. It gives the Census Bureau another clever way to satisfy its organizational mandate to provide data to consumers about the economy and populace.

So how can a government agency or organization most efficiently serve this growing consumer preference for receiving information via mobile app? To do this effectively, you need a strategy that will guide you and your team through pre-development, design and the eventual launch of your app.

Keywords

First, you must understand that for consumers to download and then use your app, they need to be able to find it in the crowded sea that app stores have become. (Thousands of apps exist, and new ones are developed every minute.)

To make your app both noteworthy and easy to find, you need to think about the keywords that a consumer might use to locate it. Many online tools exist to help you work through this process. For instance, the Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a free online program that can help you brainstorm and work through this process by showing you keywords that might relate to a term you choose.

For instance, type in “road closure” and related keywords such as “traffic conditions” or “traffic and road conditions” come up, along with a host of other variations. Since you never know exactly how your audience may choose to search, it’s a helpful exercise to go through at the beginning of app development.

If you want consumers to know that you offer an app that provides updated road construction information, your keywords might include your city or county name and “road construction” or whatever combination makes sense for your organization.

Likewise, you need to name your app something that reflects its purpose. If your app describes road conditions in Topeka, “City of Topeka Road Conditions” might be a matter-of-fact name to consider.

Categories

You’ll also need to understand where consumers might expect to find your app or in which category it most logically belongs. Categories exist for a myriad number of apps, but what the consumer first sees when logging into an app store are apps ranked by “popularity” or number of downloads. To search further into the store, a consumer can click on the categories tab to view apps sorted by topic, such as business, entertainment, social networking and more. Perhaps an app designed to alert your audience to severe weather conditions would fit under the category “weather” or “news.”

By visiting and researching the categories available, you’ll have a better understanding of where your app might logically live.

Graphics

AmericanRedCross_appiconIt’s hard to miss the cool iconography with apps these days. For your organization’s app, you’ll need to create an attractive icon to represent the app but also your organization. The icon will appear on users’ smartphones or other digital devices, which is a great place to further your organization’s brand awareness with the public.

Keeping with the example of a road conditions app, perhaps a highway sign icon superimposed on your cityscape would make sense? You want the user to immediately understand what your app does, and how it would be of value to them. (You’ll also want to have screenshots of the user interface of your app posted behind your icon in the app store—in other words, you want users to understand what they’ll see when they download and activate your app, and to understand immediately why it will be of value to them.)

Getting the word out

After all this, the most important part of the process is to get the word out that you a) have an app and b) tell people what it can do. If the consumer doesn’t know about your app or doesn’t understand how or where it can be accessed, all the great content in the world won’t help.

Paid marketing is one route to getting the word out about your app, but it certainly isn’t the only one.

You can tout your app on your website, send an e-mail notification to subscribers or consider adding note to statements or notices sent from your office to let consumers know your app exists. And don’t forget to announce the app on your Facebook page or to Tweet about the new tool. And a press release can provide a way to get local media to help publicize your new effort.  This may also help your organization’s app to get featured on one of the popular mobile app review sites online.

Finally, be sure that you make use of an analytics tool post-launch that will help you track how many people download your app. This will also give you insight into how organizations with similar apps are faring the marketplace. MobileDevHQ and App Annie are two popular analytics tool that you may want to consider, as well as Google Analytics for mobile.

Mobile apps give you one more tool with which to conveniently—and efficiently—provide the information consumers want when they want it. Has your organization created a mobile app? How did you promote it? What tactics were successful? Let us know in the comments.

Want to find out more about the Census app? Hear directly from the Associate Director for Communications for U.S. Census at our annual digital communications event in Washington, DC on October 16. Hear from leading experts from around the Federal government about leadership development, new technologies, and digital communications best practices. Registration is free, but space is limited. Reserve your seat today.

 

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The Way Forward to a More Innovative Government

October 3rd, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | E-Government | Federal Government | Government 2.0 - (1 Comments)

Innovation tableBy John Simpson, Federal Consultant

In July 2012, the Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte published a report based on analyzing data from the 2011 Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey to summarize the sentiments of government employees on their view of innovation in their working environment. While a significant majority of employees (91.5%) are looking for ways to perform their job better, a much smaller percentage (59.2%) “reported that they are en­couraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things” and only 38.8% responded that creativity and innovation were rewarded in their office. Both stats were lower than the previous year’s results (59.6% and 39% respectively). While the nation’s public servants are overwhelmingly eager to find new ways to improve their performance, office leadership sometimes isn’t there to encourage or nurture an employee’s drive for creativity or innovation.

Rocket ship launchingThe study continued to detail which federal agencies received the highest and lowest marks according to the level of perceived innovation. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and General Services Administration (GSA) were among the highest ranked in agencies that federal employees viewed as innovative. NASA, the leader in the survey’s results for the second year, even has a page on their site that advertises the different ways that its innovation “creates new jobs, new markets, and new technologies.” Although other federal agencies could reason that NASA has always been about innovating technologies and its scale is far beyond the reach of many offices, the funds and the tech are only secondary to what allows NASA to reach the top of the charts in the minds of government workers: its attitude.

The path to a truly innovative agency is more than fulfilling an Executive memorandum to have more mobile access to government data or a directive for better customer service. While ever-evolving technologies have opened up new avenues to increase government-to-citizen engagement, the best cloud solution isn’t going to be effective for a work environment that doesn’t support a staffer’s desire to try something new. Becoming a more innovative agency is about changing leadership’s perspective and office culture around how best to serve the public; it is about encouraging employees to think, “How can we better reach the public? What old problems can be solved with new approaches or modern technologies?” If agencies and employees fear  the consequences of being creative or thinking outside the box, the government will always be one step behind the expectations of the public. Yet, waiting for this change to happen from the top-down is hardly the most effective solution.

Little Bets Book Cover by Peter SimsIn Peter Sims’s book, “Little Bets”, Sims writes that part of the problem is that most were simply taught a certain way. We’ve been hammered that “memorization and learning to follow established procedures are the key methods for success.” We are not often given opportunities for original experiments or to flex our creative muscles outside a narrow, established parameter. In the public sector, rules and regulations regarding the use of government’s time and taxpayer money can often limit any room for trial-and-error projects even further, especially when the return on investment is very gray. Sims explains that “engaging in discovery and making little bets is a way to complement more linear, procedural thinking. No one can take their eye off their core business or responsibilities, but anyone can spend a portion of their time and energies using little bets to discover, test, and improve ideas.”

Spurring innovation in a government agency does not always have to start with an Executive mandate or a clean sweep in leadership. It can start small, with federal employees building on successful projects that move beyond what has always been done to placate problems. Although some agencies’ leadership could be more open to supporting their staffs’ desires to find new, creative solutions to better reach the public, an agency’s attitude and work environment will only change after there are examples to point to and successful projects that can support the idea that “there is a better way to serve the public.”

A question for many is how to make that first step. How does a public servant know when it is the right time or situation to try something new? What are some examples of how others have taken that chance to be innovative and met success?

GovDelivery logoOn October 16, GovDelivery is inviting government workers to take part in discussions with Peter Sims and inventive government leaders on how to best seize opportunities for innovation and share best practices for expanding government’s reach to the public through dynamic digital communications solutions. To attend this free event, register online.

While most agencies cannot expect to become like NASA or NRC overnight, the road to a more innovative government and changing the attitude of offices begins with government employees learning lessons from their successful colleagues and becoming their own leaders for change and innovation.

 

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4 Awesome Government Mobile Use Cases

October 1st, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in E-Government | Government 2.0 | Mobile - (0 Comments)

By Steve Ressler, Founder of GovLoop

In 2012, the number of smartphone users will reach 106.7 million with 94% of these users accessing the mobile Internet.  With citizens and government employees increasingly adopting multiple mobile device and having increased expectations on mobile services, how do agencies adapt?

It’s important as agencies rush to go mobile to understand that mobile is a different use case than web with different strengths and weaknesses.

Thus, I wanted to share 4 awesome government mobile use cases:

1) Mobile Employee Reporting - Many agencies have employees that spent lots of time on the road collecting information.  Maybe it’s a utilities worker collecting data, a police officer documenting a case, maybe it’s a EPA worker collecting environmental stats, or a transportation worker counting cars at an intersection.  This is an amazing opportunity to do mobile reporting – rather than report twice (one on paper at the site, and one time putting it into a system) you can solve it 1 time.  Additionally mobile has a unique feature – a camera.  Include this as part of the reporting – would you rather have an officer draw a diagram or take a quick photo for the records

phone message2) Location-based Real-time Updates – The best mobile applications are built on the fact that you have it with you at a specific location and are looking for instant information.  For example, you are waiting at a bus stop and want to know when the next bus is coming.  A simple 2-way SMS mobile system where you text your route and location and get the next bus time solves a real problem.  This can apply other places to like wait times at airports. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) does this very well.

3) Mobile Content - You can assume that a high percentage of your audience will find your content on a mobile device.  Imagine your family planning a trip to Russia over breakfast, and Bob asks, “Do we need a visa?”  The first thing you will do is probably Google it on your phone which will lead you to a government website (State Department) with the information.  At that moment, you need mobile-optimized content that is easy to read, as non-optimized site will probably be too hard to read.  Nothing fancy like a mobile app – just mobile-optimized content.

IRS Mobile4) Mobilize Your Most Popular Task

Most government agencies have 2 to 3 main offerings that represent 80% of the organization’s website traffic (i.e. GSA per diem rates, taxes for IRS).  Start offering mobile content with these programs versus more obscure programs.  A general rule of thumb – if the item is popular on the web, it will be popular on mobile, even if it isn’t the 100% perfect use case.  For example, the USAJOBS mobile app is super popular even though it’s not obvious on first take that people will want to search for jobs on their mobile device.

Same with IRS2Go – do people really want tax updates on mobile phones? Do they really need to check their tax statement on mobile?  I wouldn’t have guessed so but it has over 1,500 4 star reviews across Android and iOS platform.

How is your government agency using mobile? Can you see where your agency can leverage mobile to innovate and provide better customer service to citizens? If you’re interested in learning more about government innovation and hearing from major federal agencies on the work they’re doing around digital communications, check out this free event in DC on October 16.

 

 

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Curbing Future Terrorists with Online Engagement

September 26th, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | E-Government | Federal Government | Government 2.0 - (0 Comments)

By John Simpson, Federal Consultant, GovDelivery

LaptopOver the weekend,  Politico published an opinion article on how the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) within the U.S. Department of State uses social media and web forums to engage with potential radical groups to help influence them against violence or becoming a part of terrorist organizations. Unlike commercial marketing teams that use social media to convince potential customers to buy a product, the CSCC doesn’t try to convince its audience the virtue of U.S. policies and Western values. It reaches out to this small minority of mostly young men “who are vulnerable to the enticements of terror organizations or easily mobilized by the acts of marginal players.” Instead of focusing on countries or religious ideology, the CSCC pushes the conversation to the tangible consequences of terrorism and the victims of these acts. By creating doubt about its effectiveness and relevancy, the CSCC hopes to shrink the number of terrorists.

Ultimately, the CSCC pushes for a proactive approach instead of a reactive response, “to change behaviors before they reach the point of violence.” While not every government organization is interacting with radical and borderline violent audiences, most have at some point dealt with a dissatisfied constituent or stakeholder and know that simply filing away complaint emails don’t solve the root problem. If the State Department can use social media and web forums to reach out to agitated foreigners, surely other government organizations can do the same with American citizens and interact with stakeholders where they live and through tools they’re already using before they become disillusioned with the government’s role in our lives.

Although many do not have the staff or time to connect with their stakeholders individually, agencies can use solutions that allow for the public to sign up for email or SMS alerts on topics that are important to them, allowing agencies to actively communicate to that unique group of subscribers. Allowing this self-subscription option allows for offices to target their audience in the digital channel of their choice with personalized messages on the topics they’re most interested in. This kind of personalized messaging and communication can be and should be done in conjunction with social media channels like Facebook or Twitter to cast a wider net and increase the likelihood of a more engaged audience.

While the process of engagement through inventive online avenues is still evolving in many agencies, the CSCC’s work shines as an example of how putting your organization’s mission online and implementing initiatives through the tools your audience uses can help change the conversation from blind animosity to constructive conversations.

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How to Design an Online Community

September 24th, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Modeen for GovDelivery in Community Management/Engagement | Government 2.0 | GovLoop - (1 Comments)

A few days ago, a friend asked me: how do you design an online community? I thought about it for a few minutes and said, “the same way you design a university campus.”

Here’s the thing. Off and online communities really aren’t that different. Just like it’s true social media existed eons before Facebook, the best way to set up an online community is the way you’d set up an offline one. In order for an online community to operate like, well, a community, you first need a central place for people to go to, such as the student center. This is where people can go to get the latest information, get a campus map, can ask for help, and can meet a few people that can show them around. Once they know where the campus hub is, it’s a little easier to navigate to the other areas on campus, such as their dorm where they can stake out their own territory, or their classrooms, where they will learn, help others, and participate in conversations.

Do you see where I am going with this?

Here’s a picture of my alma mater campus to give you a nice visual.

Another interesting point to remember, is that just like college campuses evolve, so do communities. What should start off small, slow, and steady, might one day (although not necessary) become much larger and split off and propagate other mini-communities. When considering how to design your online community, it is crucial to take into account the lifecycle of a community so you build it on a platform that can accommodate evolution and change. Here’s a fantastic summary of what happens when your community grows up by Douglas Atkin (see image below as well).

The most important takeaway of my comparison of an online community to a college campus is the notion that when someone comes to an online community, they need to feel in a virtual way there is a place for them to perform different activities. There is a central place to see the latest information, meet new people, and ask questions. Also, it’s important for each person to have a place to go back to that operates as their own little space. This is why it is very important in online communities for members to have a profile page of their own, or at least an identity others can connect with and a safe way to interact. To me, the main differentiator between an online community and simply a social place (a Facebook fan page for example) is that in an online community, the main driver is for members to connect, learn from each other, and fuel the evolution of the community.

So, now that you have a visual about how an online community might be laid out, and the understanding of how online communities grow and evolve, what, specifically, do you build into an online community? Other than abstract metaphors such as dorms, a student center, a cafeteria, and classrooms.

Check out this other post by Douglas Atkin called What Are the Best Features for Community Making? He does an excellent job summarizing this. You can also simply check out a rocking community of 60,000+ members such as GovLoop to see a lot of the elements I discuss in action and make your own checklist.

A final point to consider is that a true online community certainly doesn’t exist just within the walls of its physical structure. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Your community extends much further than simply a blog post interaction that happens on your technical platform. A community — whether online or offline — is about engagement and interaction, and in this sense, defining a community or measuring the success of a community can be difficult, especially with its ever-evolving and growing nature.

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Shifting gears

September 19th, 2012 | Posted by GovDelivery in E-Government | Government 2.0 | Local Government | UK Government - (0 Comments)

By Dave Worsell, Director, Government Solutions, GovDelivery UK

Up and down the UK, local government project teams are developing channel shift strategies, implementing new citizen relationship management systems (CRMs) and developing new websites.  The primary aim behind many of these projects is to promote customer self-service and reduce costs. These projects are costing local government millions of pounds, although, the return on this considerable investment more than makes it worthwhile.  Doesn’t it?

While investing in a transactional website should undoubtedly be an essential part of your future strategy, could a slightly revised strategy deliver more immediate benefits?

Ask yourself these questions:

  • If unique website usage increased 35% on your current website, what impact would that have?
  • If you could communicate directly with 20% of local residents, what could you achieve?

The fundamental problem facing local government isn’t that websites don’t provide transactional services to help citizens self serve.  The problem is actually quite simple.  It is that not enough people use local government websites.  It’s not that they can’t transact; it’s that they don’t transact.

If having spent at least £200k on your new website you discover no more residents are using it than your existing website what has that investment achieved?  It will obviously give you a positive return in years to come but has it maximised the value of your investment? How quickly are the savings “cashable”?

Consider this.  A KPI for the investment in a new transactional website must be website traffic. If your current website had 35% more usage, and residents returned more frequently directed to key pages, wouldn’t that reduce avoidable contact too? Your website might not be perfect, it might not be fully transactional but the information that residents need is there already and will reduce contact (incoming calls, face-to-face interactions, etc.)  An immediate return for considerably less investment.

The real benefits of this strategy come later and the impact is considerable.

Increasing usage on your current website and building your audience ensures you make savings now. When your new, all-singing, all-dancing transactional website and integrated CRM solution launches, this extra traffic means your Return on Investment (ROI) will be 35% higher because more residents will use the new website from launch day one.

Assuming the ROI for your new website was £1million in the first year based on current levels of usage, increasing website usage before launch by 35% delivers an extra £350k in savings. ROI could be months rather than years and “cashable” savings start much sooner.

If you’re thinking of building a transactional website, don’t delay.  The sooner you launch, the better. However, your engagement strategy needs to be in place now, long before your new website launches. You simply cannot count on the idea that if you “build it”, the masses will come. Invest in shift now and develop channels to maximise ROI.  Whatever happens, make sure you do both soon.

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APIs ARE the secret sauce

September 17th, 2012 | Posted by Mike Bernard for GovDelivery in Compelling Content | E-Government | Government 2.0 | Web 2.0 | Web/Tech - (1 Comments)

Yesterday, I attended an outstanding webinar, by my co-worker Richard Fong, about using APIs to improve how the government communicates with the public. He discussed what an API is and why they’re so important to government organizations.

Application Programming Interfaces (or APIs) are a hot topic in the government these days. Earlier this year, the White House released a new strategy for the Federal government called Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People. This new digital government strategy lists API use as a key element in fulfilling the vision for more open, responsive government communication. And U.S. CIO, Steven VanRoekel tweeted out earlier this year about APIs, with the hashtag “#yesitsthesecretsauce.”

Fong noted that API use has become more critical because the way we access information has dramatically changed. “In the past, businesses and organizations went to the Web because that’s where the customers were…we all sat in front of our desktop monitor and browsed the Web to get content. Then something happened. Technology evolved. The browser stopped being the exclusive gateway to information and content. A few trends that pushed this included social media, mobile, and location based services.  The public started to consume content using smart-phones, tablets and other intelligent devices,” states Fong.

Fong went on to highlight some of the excellent work being done with APIs throughout the government. For example, here are a few of the API integrations he mentioned in the webinar:

These are just a few of the success stories that Richard covered in his presentation. If you’re interested in exploring creative ways to improve communication with the public, check out the recording of this webinar.

And, if you are in the Washington D.C. area, you should consider attending our Annual Federal Digital Communications Event on October 16th. There will be in-depth discussions about the White House Digital Strategy and how you can use APIs to advance your communication goals. Space is limited, so register today.

 

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Why government must embrace failure as a mission critical value

September 10th, 2012 | Posted by Mike Bernard for GovDelivery in Compelling Content | Federal Government | GovDelivery | Government 2.0 - (1 Comments)

In the current heated political climate, lots of air time is given to the failures of the opposing party.

“This policy was a total failure.” “That idea cost us a fortune and nothing worked.” “That was a horrible idea, and I will work to reverse it.”

This kind of rhetoric highlights two important issues that need to be addressed:

  1. The right kind of failure can actually be quite helpful.
  2. Negativity about failure obscures true successes.

1) The right kind of failure can actually be quite helpful.

The other day, I was watching a video of Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the United States, speaking at the recent NextGen Conference. Park was discussing why he loves working in government: because of the amazing opportunity to make a huge impact.

Park, while talking about how to have a huge impact in government, suggested applying the principle of Lean Start-Up from the book by Eric Ries:

  • When you need to solve a problem, get a small, agile team who understands the situation and task them with implementing change. Apply the Rule of 5 – no more than 5 people should be on the team. Any more than that and the difficulty in communication trumps the value add of the additional person/people.
  • Determine what is the smallest possible thing you could deploy rapidly to get customers to tell you what they really want? Go with that. That’s called MVP – Minimum Viable Product.
  • Rapid Iteration – Learn from your customers and iterate in days or weeks, not months or years. Failing fast is actually the most cost effective way of doing things because you haven’t invested a ton of time or money into doing something fast.

I was also reading through Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims.* The book is all about how taking small risks, learning from your failures, and making improvements to your ideas is where true creativity comes from, rather than out-of-the-blue strokes of genius.

Sims writes, “The type of creativity that is more interesting to [University of Chicago economist, David] Galenson, and that is far more common, is experimental innovation. These creators use experimental, iterative, trial-and-error approaches to gradually build up to breakthroughs. Experimental innovators must be persistent and willing to accept failure and setbacks as they work towards their goals.”

What Park and Sims both touch on is the need for the right kind of failure. Implementing a series of small, rapidly deployed risks opens up the potential for huge long term success while minimizing the potential for colossal failure to occur.

For example, if a team of 4 people spent one week building a simple mobile app that never takes off, your organization hasn’t lost a lot. If that same team took 2 years to build a massive, database-driven web portal that addressed every possible scenario imaginable, and it bombs…lots lost!

Now let’s look at the converse. The same team builds a mobile app, and it gets a little bit of traction. It’s not perfect but people seem to like most of it. They spend a little more time fixing the bugs and adding features. More people use it now. More improvements lead to more interest, and ater a couple of years, you have a bona fide hit on your hands. Now, it’s possible that a big 2-year web portal is a hit, too. Great. But if it’s not, you’ve wasted a lot of time and money.

Question to ponder: How do you find ways within your organization to move quickly, fail fast, solicit feedback, iterate, and improve?

2) Negativity about failure obscures true successes.

Government oftentimes gets a bad rap. Lots of critique with little praise. When the rhetoric is constantly negative, people start believing that everything is dysfunctional. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the video I mentioned above, Park states that, with all his experience being an entrepreneur, he is most excited about the possibilities he has in his current role as Chief Technology Officer for the United States.

Why?

Because, as he puts it, Impact = Mass x Velocity.

Startups are great, but when they are in their infancy, they have a lot of velocity but little mass so their impact is small.

The government has a lot of mass. Once it is set on a trajectory toward innovation, and starts gaining velocity, the potential for huge impact is very high.

Park sites several examples where the government has embraced innovation, partnered with change makers, to turn a possibly negative situation into a path of innovation.

Here’s some I can think of:

  • The America’s Economy mobile app that helps you take the pulse of the US economy with real-time updates for 16 key economic indicators. This was a joint partnership between the US Census Bureau, The Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This app was built so previously disjointed, large volumes of data could be accessed quickly and easily.
  • The Milwaukee Police Department creating the coolest police news website in the entire country. They wanted a place where people would actually enjoy going to a government website and wanted to highlight the great work their officers were doing.
  • FEMA’s Ready.gov program that’s using creative technology to bring people together to make emergency preparedness plans…this couldn’t be more timely given the damage Hurricane Isaac is causing. So, now disconnected people from across the country can come together to work on problems collaboratively.
  • The Virginia Tourism Association had some fun and created an interactive map for a craft beer tour. How do you compete for vital tourism dollars? Highlight something no one else is doing!
  • Louisville, KY has created one of the most comprehensive, informative YouTube sites out there. You have great content but no one is viewing it? Get it to the place where people are already congregating.
  • And countless more…

Don’t become stuck in a rut of negativity. Rather, identify areas that need to be improved and start making small changes. You probably will discover that the once-negative problem quickly can become an area of success.

Question to ponder: What are one or two “negatives” you deal with that could be turned into positives by rethinking and reworking how you do things?

Government has the potential to create huge positive impact in people’s lives. It just takes a willingness to fail fast, learn, adapt, and iterate quickly coupled with finding ways to not get mired down in what’s not working by finding ways to create positive new velocity.


Interested in learning more? GovDelivery will be hosting a free event with Peter Sims as the keynote speaker. Register for the Annual Federal Digital Communications Event on October 16, 2012 in Washington D.C.

 

 

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Severe Weather and Social Media: How effective are you?

September 4th, 2012 | Posted by Mary Yang for GovDelivery in Federal Government | Government 2.0 | Government Success Stories | Local Government | Social Media | State Government | Uncategorized - (2 Comments)

Social media affects our lives in many ways but perhaps none more significantly than when we deal with a crisis. Whether it’s a runaway fire, a buckled highway or a hurricane (Isaac, anyone?), it’s becoming increasingly clear that social tools are an essential component of communications in a time of shared need.

There are many examples where social tools have become the go-to channel for communicating during severe weather situations.

With regard to the most recent severe weather situation, the use of social media to communicate during Hurricane Isaac is a great example. A recent article on NextGov highlights how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the White House and the National Weather Service (NWS) all used Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about the storm as well as offer tips on how to prepare for the disaster.Fema alerts citzens via twitter

On a local level, the City of Minneapolis has leveraged a number of digital communication tools, from emails to text messages and social media, to alert and respond to residents after a tornado caused major damage to the north side of the city this past spring. E-mail alerts were sent to city subscribers informing them of severe weather and warning non-locals to avoid the area to prevent interference with first responders. Continuous posts were made to the city’s social media channels, such as Facebook. In addition, since the city has a subscriber system that allows residents to identify their zip codes to receive specific update that focus on their precinct, the city was able to quickly tailor alerts to areas that needed information, including directly informing citizens in the affected areas about local rescue and relief efforts.Minneapolis keeps residents informed on facebook

In another part of the country, Kitsap County, Wash., has turned to Twitter and other digital communication outlets to reach residents. In January, Seattle was faced with a major two-day ice storm that grounded planes and left many roads dangerous to travel. A Kitsap County official was stranded in the Sea-Tac airport, which had lost its Internet service. However, the official was able to use his smartphone to access digital communications tools, including social media, and was able to continue sending out timely messages about road closures and other pertinent information. Messages were sent simultaneously to subscribers who had indicated interest in topics such as road reports, inclement weather, front-page news and emergency management, thereby increasing the reach of the message. The salient messages also were posted to Facebook and Twitter, further magnifying the reach of the updates by further spreading to followers’ friends and social groups.

As a result of this proactive “pushing out” of the message, county officials reported that their call center—which generally receives up to 1,800 calls a day during inclement weather—recorded only 310 calls the first day, and 420 the second. After the storm subsided, the county reported a significant increase in both subscribers and social media followers.

TornadoThe importance of using social media and digital communication tools resonated deeply with Steve Ressler, found of GovLoop and resident of Tampa, Fla. After a recent severe weather situation, Steve wrote a blog post about his experiences with a tornado that touched down near his home. {Link to  He and his wife had spent a stormy day watching television at their home as rain poured outside. While they were watching local broadcasts, storm alerts scrolled across the bottom of the screen, but when the two popped in a DVD to watch a different program, they no longer saw those updates.

Instead, he and his wife’s first warning about the tornado in their area came from a text messaging system that the University of South Florida offers for emergency alerts. The couple and their pets took shelter in a bathroom inside the house, and Steve noted that they continued to track the tornado’s progress from there via Twitter. They also found out when the tornado had passed via Twitter. (Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, offers both an e-mail and text-based emergency alert service for which subscribers can sign up.)

Finally, when a “hurricane-level” storm struck the Washington D.C. area, social media and other tools definitely proved their worth. A local news reporter collected information from citizens via both Facebook and Twitter, and then used that information to help report the story. Local Facebook posts from citizens announced their willingness to help others who had lost power during the event. The local power company also provided continuous updates on the process of restoring electricity to affected areas. And finally, a local couple reached out to an area news station via Twitter to say that they had lost power and were in trouble because the loss complicated a pre-existing medical issue. The station re-tweeted the information, and local Stafford County officials responded directly to the couple via Twitter to offer assistance.

It’s clear that the public has come to rely on digital communications, especially social media, to connect and share information. Government communicators should be prepared to leverage these tools to effectively communicate with stakeholders. Although it’s only one component of an effective emergency notification solution (ENS), social media is quickly becoming a critical channel to distribute information to the public.

In addition to the public’s growing tendency to gravitate toward social media in times of crisis, social media channels address some key challenges to effective communication, including enabling mass distribution of messages and, with the proliferation of mobile devices, facilitating communication without the need for power.

Reaching the public through fundamental digital communication tools, like email, and through newer channels, like text messages and social media, is now indispensable in managing times of crisis and in protecting citizens during severe weather and other dangerous situations.

If your government organization would like more advice on overcoming the key barriers to managing an effective ENS and tips for avoiding the pitfalls of putting a solution in place, download this recent white paper titled, “Breaking Down Barriers to Effective Emergency Notifications.”

 

 

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Federal Agency Distributes Content More Broadly, Educates & Informs for Safety

August 31st, 2012 | Posted by Scott Burns CEO of GovDelivery in E-Government | Federal Government | Government 2.0 | Government Success Stories - (0 Comments)

If you work in or around Federal government in technology, it’s impossible to have missed the White House’s new strategy for the federal government, Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People. In the White House blog, U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel discussed the strategy as a critical roadmap for government to take advantage of technological advances and ultimately deliver better services to the American people through digital means.

While the strategy is important, much of it needs further interpretation and deeper analysis. But there were real-world examples throughout the roadmap that offered clear insight into how Federal agencies could deliver against the strategy. One such example was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is “liberating web content” by using a “create once, publish everywhere mindset.” Essentially, the CDC syndicates their content and data via application programming interfaces (APIs) so that information was seamlessly flowing into multiple channels. The CDC example was one of the most clear and immediately applicable pieces of the strategy to me. It’s easy to see how other Federal agencies could provide official content while enhancing their digital interactions with the public in a similar way by automating content distribution to various channels.

A more recent example of this “create once, publish everywhere” approach is at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) which recently launched two widgets to allow anyone to easily publish and distribute FSIS content on other digital properties (websites, blogs, etc.):

  • News & Events Widget consolidates several feeds from FSIS’s email subscription service and provides access to news releases (including recalls) and newsletters.
  • FSIS Policy Widget consolidates the following feeds from FSIS’s email subscription service: FSIS Notices and Directives, Federal Register issuances, scenario-based training, compliance guides.

 FSIS_widget

The FSIS mission relies heavily on public outreach as it is “responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.” This is critical for the public and stakeholders, including farmers, grocery store suppliers, and more. FSIS’s widgets allow specific information to be broadcast broadly beyond typical communication channels, such as press releases or website updates. Stakeholders or even just the general public can take the code for the widget and use it on their digital properties, helping to promote official content much more quickly and widely.

The FSIS widgets pull directly from digital communications that FSIS is already producing, so keeping the information in the widgets updated does not entail any additional actions or resources. The widgets automatically populate with the most up-to-date news or stories, such as food safety tips and updates during severe weather and recent food recalls. Furthermore, FSIS’s widgets provide an embedded ability for the public to sign up for ongoing updates from FSIS via email — a service that already has over 100,000 active users and that links back to their website, helping to increase web traffic. Leveraging information-sharing widgets to syndicate content saves FSIS time, money and resources, and it also provides the public and partners with an easy way to redistribute relevant and valuable information that directly impact people’s lives and safety.

The Digital Government strategy provides a clear path to delivering better citizen services by leveraging technology and urging government organizations to “go digital.” While there are many milestones to meet, the truth is more than half of all Federal agencies – such as the National Guard Bureau, Disability.gov, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency – are already managing digital communications using a cloud-based platform with open APIs to easily reuse and redistribute content so there is a firm foundation in place to deliver progress against milestones rapidly. FSIS’s widgets are just one clear example of the impact of how creating once and publishing everywhere can provide greater value for both the public and government.

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