Rock Creek Roundup (October 30 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy Oct 30, 2009 0 Comments

The Army talks about social media lessons learned, the Navy commissions a social media report, the White House’s switch to an open-source CMS causes industry buzz, and GovLoop keeps growing, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup:

• If you’re involved in social media for a government agency, here’s a story you’ll want to check out. “Think strategically, but don’t wait for the perfect plan.” That’s one of the things that Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, director of the U.S. Army’s Online and Social Media Division says the Army has learned when it comes to using social media. Speaking at the 2009 American Council of Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s Executive Leadership Conference this past Monday, Arata noted that one of the main benefits of social media is to provide an organization with a “voice” that they can use to engage in conversations with the public. In his presentation, Arata outlined both the lessons the Army has learned and the challenges they continue to face, including measuring and assessing the impact of social media within the organization.
• The Army isn’t the only branch of the military that sees the benefits of social media; the Navy is interested in learning more about how social media can help in disaster or crisis situations. The Office of Naval Research recently commissioned a study designed to “investigate how social media could help during complex crisis situations through activities such as providing first-hand information, assisting with evacuation plans, and directing the distribution of supplies,” according to an article in Washington Technology. The Navy hopes to have initial findings available by this February, and anticipates having a clear path forward on how to maximize the value of different social media channels during a crisis.
• The White House’s recent transition to a Drupal-powered content management system for its website is causing a buzz among bloggers and others in the technology industry. While the average visitor to the site probably won’t be able to tell an immediate difference, they differences are certainly there in the form of more seamless interactions between the site and social media activities, as well as decreased operating costs. “We now have a technology platform to get more and more voices on the site,” said White House new media director Macon Phillips.
• One of our favorite social media sites GovLoop recently announced two very important milestones: The site has surpassed 20,000 members and has hired its second full-time employee to join Steve Ressler, GovLoop founder who recently left his government job to manage GovLoop full-time. We’d like to issue a hearty congrats to Steve for GovLoop’s continued success and popularity, as well as a friendly welcome to Andrew Krzmarzick as GovLoop’s newly appointed Director of Community Engagement.

Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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