Facebook For Government - Good Idea? What About...

 


Government Flocks To Facebook, But Caution Is Advised

Federal, State, Provincial and Local Governments have jumped on to Facebook as a means of communicating with citizens. It's a no brainer, right? It's free. Almost everyone is "there". So why not?

  • All is not quite so simple. There are a number of issues:
  • dependence on a for profit company - always a bad idea for government
  • lack of control of the technology, privacy and security apparatus
  • no ability to have any recourse if Facebook breaks "the contract", which, by and large indicates Facebook has NO obligation to anyone about anything.

I expect over the next year or two we'll see more issues hitting the press, and more bumps in the road where Facebook and government meet. In the mean time, below are some enlightening articles on both issues, and how governments are using Facebook.

 

Available Help About: Government Using Social Media : Facebook

Did anyone see your organization's Facebook post? | Reach The Public - by Kelsey Lund
Governments that relied on Facebook to communicate and engage are discovering that Facebook's changes are resulting in only a small fraction of "friends" and followers seeing updates from the government office. Ouch. (Views So Far 146 )


2013 Retrospective: The Demise of Facebook As A Government Tool For Crisis Communication - by Jim Garrow
Changes at Facebook limit its usefulness as a tool for government to use to communicate with citizens, because now, chances are, people won't actually see government messages. (Views So Far 165 )


Honolulu police sued over deleted Facebook posts - by Anil Chawla
Describes law suit in Hawaii challenging government's ability to delete Facebook posts, but the real issue is much bigger - government censorship on social media. (Views So Far 270 )


Facebook requiring cities to change page names - by Erin Vader
Facebook leans heavily on some municipalities to change their page names, which of course, made them unfindable. A good example of the perils of relying on a free service to communicate with citizens. (Views So Far 146 )


Government and Social Media: How Agencies Communicate with Hispanics via Facebook - by DK Insider
Information about how government is using facebook, and how reaching out to Hispanics is a major part of it. Good information, but horrible white on black print. (Views So Far 163 )


Abandoning Facebook - Mark Cuban - by na
Not about government per se, but about Mark Cuban moving off of Facebook. As Facebook looks more and more to profit, this may be a harbinger to come as it changes, affecting any organizations, including government, who rely on it, (Views So Far 194 )


Categories:

Models and Case Studies (1)
Examples and case studies of government using Facebook -- includes best practice examples.
Models and Case Studies (1)
Examples and case studies of government using Facebook -- includes best practice examples.

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