“Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.” - Colonel Jessup in the movie A Few Good Men
Organizations that choose to deploy collaborative solutions, ranging from Twitter to Facebook to full-blown community software, are making a decision that it is time to engage their customers, their citizens, in a bi-directional dialog. This dialog is not for dialogs sake alone, it is meant to deliver a return on investment. For businesses, this should lead to higher profits. For local governments and federal agencies it should lead to better delivery of services. For politicians it should lead to winning an election.
However, some organizations do not seem to fully understand what they are signing up for and choose to clamp down, to guard those walls and treat their customers, their citizens, as the enemy, keeping them at a safe and comfortable distance. It was with disappointment that I read about the Social Media Policy in use by the city of Charlotte, NC. Charlotte has a Facebook fan page where citizens are allowed to leave comments but only city employees can view those comments, not other citizens.
While other large cities in the area, as well as North Carolina itself, have an open policy Charlotte stands alone, fearing lawsuits that might arise from inappropriate posts. While I respect the concern, I feel strongly that the move is the wrong one.
If you want to leverage Social Business Strategies remember:
- Define clear guidelines, a clear Social Media Policy, for employees.
- Define accepted use policies for your customers/citizens. Instead of blocking access to comments clearly state what is acceptable. In the case of questionable wall posts, if you fear deleting them create an area, maybe within a discussion board, where questionable wall posts are moved. This enables citizens to exercise their right to free speech without allowing offensive comments to side track your goals.
- If you do not wish to publish citizen feedback through social channels then stick to making your web site and your feedback forms the best they can be. Each social channel has its own social norms and expectations. If you do not wish to work within this framework, consider other channels.
What do you think? Is Charlotte doing the right thing?
John
May 17, 2010 at 8:02 am
[...] Are your collaborative efforts one-sided? [...]
May 16, 2010 at 11:40 am
Very interesting post!
It includes a wealth of information!
Thank you for sharing
May 13, 2010 at 2:44 am
Fascinating, funny, and sad. Thanks for the pointer, John.
Charlotte’s posture towards social media strikes me as ironic, given that at public hearings, it’s not uncommon that people come up to the microphone and say all manner of odd, crazy, angry, offensive, and off-topic things, while the panel of officials pays no attention, and the local news don’t bother to even mention the fact that a hearing occurred.
So now, they are confronted with an online version of the public hearing, and these same government officials are suddenly paralyzed with concern about what the public might offer up.
I know these are not exactly analogous situations, and it is true that most online fora have a signal-to-noise ratio closer to Zero than One, but the comparison nevertheless points to the ability of social media to upend the established structure of power and authority.
Online media typically provide invested stakeholders a means for doing an end-run around established communications procedures; do you think that Charlotte’s restrictive social media approach can even succeed? Or might it spawn unexpected challenges to the city’s assumption of control over the medium of communication?
May 13, 2010 at 10:20 am
Thanks John. While I think Charlotte’s use of Facebook can “succeed” in the fact that it is satisfying the way they want to work I feel it misses the benefits of using social media, instead of amplifying the conversation, building a more open relationship, it simply leaves citizens,and their interests, siloed. Sad.
John
May 13, 2010 at 2:14 am
[...] Pro Tweets [re: pulling a Charlotte] http://johnfmoore.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/are-your-collaborative-efforts-one-sided/ #localgovchat johnfmoore – Thu 13 May 1:37 All Things [...]
May 12, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I totally agree with the thesis of the original post (love the Col Jessup quote!) and the follow up comments. However, it is very frustrating that most of the evangelists for social media point out such half-hearted approaches to using social tools in companies, etc, but I have not come across many that have attempted to take a few steps in the corporate social strategist shoes (or sandals, whichever may be more appropriate). And I only speak from my point of view which is for financial services. Currently FINRA and to a lesser degree the SEC are only now coming to grips of how to develop guidelines around social tools.
It’s great to say “don’t build walls” but I’d rather commentators spend some more time in addressing how [financial services] companies can incubate thriving social practices in an environment where we have to catalogue and archive every single customer communication for 8+ years…! I more than “buy” that social is here to stay… I want people to stop throwing rocks at us and propose viabel solutions that are acceptable to the regulators.
From an exec’s perspective, the social “soft” ROI pales in comparison to coverage on the front page of the WSJ accomapnies by a 7 figure fine from a regulator….
We’re not against it.. We are asking for real solutions… Social solutions have now become mainstream, and as such they now need to become somewhat segmented along industry segments in order to recognize each industry’s enviornment and nuances….
May 12, 2010 at 3:51 pm
All great points. While I am doing my part in providing case studies on this blog (see the top links) I have not yet dug into the financial services space where regulatory requirements factor into the equation.
Of course, the company I work for (Swimfish) has a fair amount of knowledge as we sell into this vertical. While I try to avoid promoting my business in this blog I would encourage you to send me a note, if interested, to john.moore at swimfish.com . I would be happy to assist you in bringing social media to your business and be jazzed up by the chance to document some of what we do on this blog.
John
May 11, 2010 at 7:43 pm
John, in a word, “no” I don’t think their decision is a good one. Having said that, I’m not surprised. Over time organizations will understand that they are “all in” the social media thing regardless of their need to control. Aaron
May 11, 2010 at 1:59 pm
John, I’ve worked with many nonprofit and a couple government agencies in the past 10 years and most of the social/collaborative technology solutions are misunderstood. They are government workers, in the first place, so one can not expect much.
Ignorance is the biggest failing in the creation of these policies. Here is the main fear most NPOs and Gov’t entities have:
“What if someone posts something ridiculous, we don’t want that on our site.”
When I have attempted to explain that it is easy to set these applications up so nothing gets posted until approved by an administrator, then the conversation leads to “We don’t have the manpower to have someone spending all day approving comments from blogs or the website.”
This is the first case in which I have seen a policy where they do not allow citizens to view the comments, but only workers. To me, this says that no one is monitoring the applications so they let it run free with all the crazy’s and spammers included. (IMO)
The other reason could be that they do not want the “mob mentality” to take place where someone posts something smart with good ideas to solve a particular problem or a well-written reply, and others agree with it and begin a mini-activism campaign.
Most citizens can solve government issues and they don’t want that to happen. Keeping people in the dark is the first stage to social dominance. It is clear to me that many cities want nothing more than to keep their constituents in the dark. Afterall, I’m from Chicago. Here, the mayoral elections take place and no one in the city even knows it – cause it isn’t talked about, just all of a sudden, the election is next week. A major symptom of gestapo democrats in Chicago Politics.
May 11, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Thanks John for a thoughtful analysis of social media in local government.
As a resident of a small town in Maine, where local politics and town council meetings can make you sometimes wonder if you had inadvertently bought tickets to a hockey fight, it is no surprise that local government is not embracing social media to engage in more discourse.
Social media platforms are great outposts for amplifying one’s message and opening one’s kimono (as the Japanese were fond of saying, figuratively, of course), but if you fear transparency and open discourse, it might be a signal that it is time to get your house in order!
Local government can hide behind the fear of lawsuits or a myriad of other excuses for a time, but at some point open, public discourse will become the defacto standard. They need to adapt sooner or later!
I love Cara’s sentiment of being in public roles to serve the people, but I have found that to be rarely expressed in my interactions with many town/city employees over the course of my life. Unfortunately, I’ve often seen complacency and a sense of job entitlement. And short of moving, it isn’t like you can take your business elsewhere as it is in the private sector!
May 11, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Thanks Sabine. We must all work to change expectations around government, local and otherwise, good to see people mostly in agreement on this topic.
John
May 10, 2010 at 7:32 pm
The City of Charlotte is facing the same pressures and fears that many of us face in local, state, and federal government agencies. I am concerned that this will be seen as “If Charlotte can do it, so can we” and others will lock down their sites as well.
The reality is, these measures only give the illusion of control. Do you really think that these citizens are saying things on Facebook that they aren’t saying at the grocery store, BMV, or the kids’ little league game? Showing citizens that we want to engage in a trustful relationship, rather than a controlling one, provides other benefits. It allows problems to be discovered, addressed, and for everyone to move on. It also allows people to celebrate successes.
If government agencies are so scared about controlling the message and not allowing or encouraging citizens to engage with each other, then I agree with John. Stick to one-way communications and make them as good as possible. Focus on good customer service in your daily involvement with citizens. Leave the social media for a time when you are ready to engage in a trusting and open relationship with those citizens who want to engage with you.
Remember, we are here to serve the people…we are called public servants for a reason.
May 10, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Great commentary Cara. Thank you.
May 10, 2010 at 7:23 pm
No, not at all. I completely agree with you. If other citizens were allowed to view the posts, it would give the City an idea exactly what’s important to the citizens, and some issues may get (gasp!) actual objective discussion! Maybe even… IDEAS that the politicos haven’t considered! (tongue firmly in cheek here).
May 10, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Thanks John, appreciate the feedback.