Social Media’s Growing InfluenceFrom Service Delivery to Engagement

Daren C. Brabham, Ph.D.

March 29, 2012North Carolina City & County Communicators Conference

Overview• From e-Government (service delivery) to e-

Democracy (engagement)• Different levels of engagement• Situating social media in strategic

communication planning• Some examples and possibilities

6 Phases of e-Government1. providing information2. providing online forms3. accepting completed online forms4. handling single transactions5. handling multiple, integrated transactions6. developing intergovernmental projects … to

allow the delivery of new integrated services(Francis McDonough)

What About e-Democracy?• Public participation, engagement, citizen input

– Government talking to citizens– Citizens talking to government employees and

politicians– Getting feedback on policies and plans– Collective visioning exercises, design charrettes– Creation of new resources and plans– “of the people, by the people, for the people”

(Karel Maier)

Strategic Planning• R – Research. Back everything w/ research (primary & secondary)

• O – Objectives. Have measurable goals (quantities & deadlines)

• S – Strategies. Find creative solutions and messages

• T – Tactics. Invest in good tools to execute strategies

• E – Evaluation. Did you meet objectives? Cycle back into research

(Parkinson & Ekachai)

The Purpose of Social Media• Don’t take the “social” out of “social media”

– Aim for conversations and engagement, not dissemination and service delivery

• Do a variety of things with the tools– Direct use (promotion & direction to other URLs)– Indirect use (individuals as brand ambassadors?)– Signaling (listening for chatter and alerts)

New Zealand Police Act Review

USPTO’s Peer-to-Patent

Next Stop Design

SeeClickFix

How Your City/County Can Do This• Use wikis and collaborative work spaces to

empower citizens to give input on policies• Let citizens volunteer their time and expertise

to make government more efficient, effective• Give citizens online space to create useful,

beautiful things and public spaces• Set up convenient reporting channels to keep

a finger on the pulse of the community

The Benefits• Increase public participation

– Both quantitatively and qualitatively– Bring in new voices– People feel more connected to government

• Research issues and citizens– Social media analytics, social listening, monitoring

• Improve services and efficiency• EDUCATE CITIZENS!

Plugs and Resources• Rob Goodspeed has the goods

– http://goodspeedupdate.com (see Internet Tools)

• Beth Noveck’s work– Wiki Government

• Next Stop Design code (Rails 2.2 framework)– http://tinyurl.com/NextStopDesign

• Link up with universities– Grants, research projects, tools, interns, visibility

Thank You!• Questions?

www.linkedin.com/in/darenbrabham@dbrabhamdarenbrabham