There is an interesting conversation going on within our 360° Digital Influence team blog sparked by a post from Brian Giesen regarding the death of Web 1.0 for government. The question of whether our government gets social media or fundamental issues around the Internet is a false question. There is no monolithic "government." There is a diverse collection of people across different agencies and departments, most of who are trying anything they can do their jobs better. That includes exploring and adopting social media. I don't find the institutional inertia inside government agencies any thicker than many corporations.
There is lots of evidence that individuals throughout government are exploring and becoming expert with how to use social media productively. While there is plenty of evidence that others are struggling. In such a big ecosystem like "government" that is completely understandable.
Technology is complicated
Today's Washington Post Business section covers the hearings yesterday garding Internet privacy in relation to data mining and ad targeting. The story was in the print edition and I cannot find it online but the intersting points were:
- one Congressman citing the use of the term "cookies" and feeling the need to learn a new dictionary
- the general sense that the discusison aqbout technology, data and privacy in realtion to Internet advertising was too complex to really understand within the scope of the session
But the campaigns lead the way
Both parties are using social media to the fullest. That's common knowledge. It's not just the 2 big candidates but plenty of the others who run every year that are deep into the tools, communities and methodologies of social media and just good use of the Web.
- Obama for America
- John McCain for President
- Josh Hallet on local campaign sites
- Jerry Weinstein at The Huffington Post on the Personal Democracy Forum
And then they get elected
Look at Robert Scoble's trip to the Hill this past month. he found plenty of folks who "get it" including Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. See his video collection here.
Link to original post