Following up on Twitter for Government

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak at SpeakerBox's "Got Content? Get Government Customers" event. Turnout was fantastic, and the feedback has been great. If you weren't there, and wanted to catch up on some of the sessions, we have some recaps posted online.

My presentation focused on Twitter for Government, which, in truth, is quite similar to Twitter for Lawyers and many other industries. I kicked off my presentation with this quote from MarketingProf's Ann Handley, which I believe answers the "why Twitter matters" question as succinctly as any I've seen:

Twitter matters because of what it is: at its heart, a platform that offers an exchange of ideas and information on an unprecedented scale.

Earlier this year, Federal Computer Week's Doug Beizer wrote an encouraging look at how government agencies and officials at all levels were turning to social media - including Twitter - "revolutionize government business" and to network, collaborate and communicate like never before. The FCC has turned to Twitter and a new blog to promote a two-way conversation about the National Broadband Plan. The Environmental Protection Agency is using Twitter to extend its already impressive social media efforts. Several Federal CIOs and other high level government officials and influencers are on Twitter. And in a very recent and real-time example, the U.S. Army turned to Twitter to share information on the Fort Hood shootings. The list goes on, but you get the point.

And as the government has embraced social media, the community of publications, organizations, conferences and companies using Twitter to communicate with that audience has also grown. The evolution of sites like Steve Lunceford's GovTwit and Steve Ressler's GovLoop make this engagement easier and have really helped to unify the Gov 2.0 community.

If you're interested in B-to-G marketing and communications, how is your organization using social media to communicate with the government community?

-Stephanie

Twitterfor Gov

View more presentations from Katie Hanusik.