TASSCC Presentation 8/11/2009 · What do I use Twitter for? News l News Customer service Feedback Promotions What do I use Twitter for? [ 1.1 ] Headline Link to page Quick media outlet

TASSCC Presentation 8/11/2009

Jon Lee, Department of Information

Resources 1

Twitter and the Public Sector

Jon Lee

Department of Information Resources

Topics

� What is Twitter?

� Why should I use Twitter?

� What do I use Twitter for?

� How do I get started?

� How do I continue?

What is Twitter?

� In 2006:

Communicate in 140 characters or less

What is Twitter?

2006 2009

Broadcast Knowledge-sharing

updates marketplace

Friends Anyone who adds value

Families Probably never meet

Co-workers

What Twitter is not

Private

� Don’t tweet anything you wouldn’t want to read in the newspaper!

� For internal use, try Yammer and Present.ly instead

Building followers

� Ashton Kutcher vs CNN

� Don’t try to add followers

� Don’t turn into MySpace

Quick word on social media

• Iranian elections: June 15, 2009June 15, 2009– Formal media outlets were shutdown

– Twitter was easiest/best way to get up-to-date information

– State Department asked Twitter to move scheduled maintenance time

• “United Breaks Guitars”: July 6, 2009July 6, 2009– Airline would not compensate for broken guitar,

musician writes song and posts video on YouTube

– Over 2.5 million views within first week

– United ranked 10 out of 19 in luggage damage survey



Resources 2

What about security?

Security risk is relatively low– No private information needed to create account besides

phone and email– Only broadcast public information– Spammers are easy to differentiate– Internal network cannot be penetrated

Do benefits Do benefits outweigh risks?outweigh risks?

How to mitigate the risks?How to mitigate the risks?-Only post public information-Educate users-Only click links from trusted sources

Email and Internet can cause security nightmares, yet we continue to use them because they are essential to doing business. The benefits outweigh the risks.

Why should government use Twitter?

• Free!

– no license, no software, no infrastructure, no additional FTE

• Low maintenance

• Attract people to website

• Branding tool

• Expand reach

• Customer service

• Establish presence in online community

What do I use Twitter for?

� News

� Customer service

� Feedback

� Promotions

What do I use Twitter for? [ 1.1 ]

Headline

Link to page

Quick media outlet

Opposite of RSS

News l Customer Service l Feedback l Promotions

What do I use Twitter for? [ 1.2 ]News l Customer Service l Feedback l Promotions

Disaster recovery

Safety recalls

Public health

Amber alerts


Respond to inquiries

Link to other resources



Resources 3


Personal and casual

Better than search engines


Proactive approach

Report issues


Authoritative opinion

Hear from customers



Quality control

Research and development



Contests and drawings

Special discounts



Product awareness

Market other channels



Resources 4

How do I start?S

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Log

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Log

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Before creating an account…

How do I start? [ strategic planning ]1. Identify business goals

Don’t do technology for technology’s sake

2. Get buy-in from colleagues

Find allies and incorporate skeptics

Make sure management is on board

3. Establish metrics

If you can measure it, you can manage it

4. Set expectations

Start small and gradually increase

5. Learn the Twitter language

Hashtags, @mentions, RT, DM

How do I start? [ external policies ]

How do you treat a tweet?

Like posting on a blog?

Like sending an email?

Keep a copy for records?

Public Information Act

Everything on Twitter is already public

E-discovery

Everything on Twitter is already searchable

-- Public entities have their own policies and proceduresPublic entities have their own policies and procedures-- Most government accounts do not have formal policiesMost government accounts do not have formal policies

-- Possible Terms of Service template for States Possible Terms of Service template for States

How do I start? [ internal use policies ]

Who will manage it?

How much time should be spent?

What type of tweets to post?

Who will access? One person or multiple?

How interactive?

What should the tone be?

Should I follow back?

How to handle negative comments?

Mention anything outside agency?

Include multimedia?

How do I start? [ logistics ]

Pick a searchable username

Craft a good bio

- 160 character limit

- Include the word “official”

- Consistent tone with tweets

Add icon and URL

Customize background

- Treat as branding space (mostly left side)

- Keep in line with marketing

- Include contact information

Do not “protect updates”

Look for useful third-party applications

Custom background

Casual tone

URL shortener

Hashtags

Link to other channels



Resources 5

Contact Information

Breaking news

@replies

Invite feedback

Slide 28Slide 28

Ignored important news

Inconsistent following

No links

How do I continue?

1. Build relationships

2. Add value to followers

3. Represent your brand

4. Engage stakeholders

5. See what others are saying

6. Tweet beyond yourself

Don’t forget

1. Get buy-in

2. Business goals

3. Metrics

Thank you for coming!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions

Jon Lee

@jonlee11

[email protected]

512-463-8500

Documents

TASSCC Presentation 8/11/2009 · What do I use Twitter for? News l News Customer service Feedback Promotions What do I use Twitter for? [ 1.1 ] Headline Link to page Quick media outlet