The IBM Center for the Business of Government has released a report called “The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0“. You can view/download it here (PDF, 7.15MB). It is full of all sorts of good information - like the following:
10 Tips for Blogging by Public Sector Executives
Tip 1: Define yourself and your purpose.
Tip 2: Do it yourself!
Tip 3: Make a time commitment.
Tip 4: Be regular.
Tip 5: Be generous.
Tip 6: Have a “hard hide.”
Tip 7: Spell-check.
Tip 8: Don’t give too much information.
Tip 9: Consider multimedia.
Tip 10: Be a student of blogging.
This report is a must-read for all current and would-be government bloggers.
I’ve put a Government Blog Directory page up here. The rules are fairly simple - if you are not on it, and you want your government blog to be on it, email me (Andrew Boyd) via facibus AT gmail DOT com. If you are on it and you don’t want to be, email me.
I’d like to reiterate that this is a directory of government blogs, not blogs on government.
Thanks, Andrew
You may be in a position to influence the formation of a corporate blog in your organisation.
To find out if there is a solid business case, you need to write some kind of plan. There are a dozen ways or more to put a project proposal together, but they generally contain:
- an executive summary,
- a high level concept description,
- some kind of audience needs analysis,
- issues/risks and likely mitigation strategies, and
- indicative costings/timings.
Note: They do not have to be in this format or this order.
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll put out articles addressing each of these points, based on what I have seen work to date in 20 years plus in and around government.
One of the things that government bloggers share with their equivalents in industry is that both may face objections within the organisation. A big policy issue for any corporate blog is around control - some questions that need to be asked are:
- who owns the information?
- who owns the information dissemination process?
- who is responsible for any issues arising from distributing the information?
Chances are that there are clear cut answers within your organisation for question number 2: you probably have a corporate communications/public affairs/corporate web area that sees themselves as having ownership of the dissemination process. In plain language, any outward-facing content has to be in a form that they are happy with. Perhaps they control the process directly.
If you are not in this area, and are seeking a way to work with rather than against various stakeholders, rest assured that there are resources available.
One of my favourites is a book called Cubicle Commando - and I am happy to recommend it in accordance with my advertising and affiliation policy (in other words, if you buy it, I will not make a cent off the sale). Cubicle Commando is about being an intrapreneur - someone who wants to make a difference in their organisation. Chances are, if you are reading this post, you are an intrapreneur. Cubicle Commando has tips and tricks for engendering change within large organisations - one of my favourite parts is “Sleeping with the enemy” that talks about working positively with people who have negative perceptions of your work. It applies itself beautifully to the needs of the would-be corporate blogger, and doubly so to those of us who work in and around government. It is one of those books that is both inspiring and powerful. One of the authors, Zern Liew, has his own blog over at eicolab, and the other, Lisa Messenger, is working on getting one going.
If you have a “dealing with difficult people” success story that you’d like to share, please leave a comment.
