Rock Creek Roundup (July 8 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy Jul 08, 2011 0 Comments

Vice President Biden joins the federal Twitter community, the White House holds the first-ever Twitter Town Hall, one op-ed says that the path to implementing Gov 2.0 is via universal Internet access, the Hurricane Center tests the social media waters, and the aftermath of the CDC Zombie Apocalypse 101 campaign, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—The latest addition to the White House Twitter world is none other than Vice President Joe Biden. To mark the occasion, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) waited until July 4th to send out the first tweet: “VP & Dr. B hope you take time to think about our troops & military families this Independence Day, Happy 4th from OVP!” Found on Twitter at VP, Biden and his staff joined the growing community of federal officials tweeting and participated in the first ever Twitter Town Hall with President Obama on Wednesday. Followers will be able to stay up to speed with what’s happening in the OVP and will get a behind-the-scenes look at Biden’s life as Vice President.

—While many in government are trying social media as a form of interactivity and communication, President Obama took it to the next level Wednesday with the first-ever Twitter Town Hall. Taking politics to the public, the Twitter Town Hall gave people the opportunity to direct questions directly at the President in 140 characters or less. Director of Digital Strategy Macon Phillips said the White House is using social media to amplify the President’s message through new mediums, making the White House more accessible through Q&A, and increasing government participation through new avenues. Using the #AskObama hash tag, Twitter users sent out over 61,000 questions many of which addressed jobs, the economy, and housing.

—While Gov 2.0 focuses on giving citizens a chance to engage with and participate in government, the remaining obstacle is ensuring everyone has access to the Internet, according to OhMyGov! op-ed author Bernadette Samson. Across the nation, cities are creating new opportunities for people to participate in local and national government conversations but providing Internet access is key to the effectiveness of the tools. In May, the United Nations named Internet access a human right (PDF) as it enables a number of rights and helps society progress. Samson urges people around the country to advocate for universal Internet access so that the government and the public can effectively, efficiently communicate.

—It’s hurricane season again, but this year the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is adding social media its outreach toolkit. Along with the usual flood of public announcements, Facebook and Twitter have been added to the mix to notify the growing number of people flocking to social media to find out emergency weather information. The NHC’s Facebook page answers questions, offers quizzes, and links fans to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official forecasts while the Twitter feed simply links to official forecasts. While the effectiveness of these tools won’t be tested until a hurricane sets it sights on the US, one can imagine that using social media as a disaster awareness and communication tool is only just beginning and that its role in disaster situations will evolve as quickly as the mediums themselves.

—In May, the Centers for Disease Control had some fun with disaster preparedness and according to social media experts, it paid off. As you probably remember, earlier this year CDC infectious disease specialist Ali S. Kahn posted the blog “How to Prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse” on the Public Health Matters blog which received over 30,000 hits in one day and briefly crashed servers. Since the post, the Zombie Preparedness Kit has delivered more than 3.7 million visitors to the CDC’s website. Experts calculate the value of the viral campaign at over $3 million dollars if traditional ad buying would have been used; as it was, the CDC only spent $86 on the zombie clip art used with the post. Bridging pop culture and public health, the post elicited an unprecedented response that has the agency looking to do more innovative projects in the future.

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Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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