Posted on November 09, 2009 by Tom Guard

In the past two years, I have received my news from social networks like Facebook and Twitter more than I have from TV or something called a newspaper. If you thought we were in the information age…we are in the Super Information Age now.  (Or commonly called Web 2.0)

People are using social media sites to keep in touch with old friends, relatives and even things like specials from their favorite supermarket.

So how can government take advantage of these social media sites? How can government effectively market themselves or put out content that people would want on social networking sites?

Government should connect their social networks with their call centers or customer service offices. It would be a inefficient to have a tech guy respond to people on these social media sites and even more inefficient not to have anyone respond to people on government social networking sites.  Even in big business, social media sites are manned by people in the customer service departments.

Government could post updates on different offices, festival information and even safety information. I wrote a post not long about on how government could use Twitter.

I don’t think that people want to hear updates from government on what they are eating for lunch, but maybe information on where seniors could get a free lunch.

There are three big social media sites that government should be using to spread information. Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. All of these site are easy to use and easy to follow people in your community.

Not only could government social media site connect with citizens but social media sites can also help government lure potential business into a community.

The possibilities are endless. If your offices need some assistance with social media sites,  please feel free to contact me.