I read about your new role and presumed responsibilities on the new WhiteHouse.gov blog.
After observing your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles (the former which appears to be outdated and the latter for which you are protecting your updates, as marked by my subsequent request to follow), I’d like to share with you some social media strategies to consider.
I am an online media strategist working with business and government leaders to analyze, recommend, and implement best practices in social networking, interactive marketing, and online branding. Part of my daily homework involves perusing websites and blogs to capture the essence of what people think and determine how they react.
You undoubtedly know about the CNN/Facebook numbers as identified by Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, the President’s inclusive oratory language as captured by David Meerman Scott, and maybe you’re scanning the suggestions for a chief technology officer, but are you following the blogopshere?
Are you and your team reading what bloggers are writing about the President’s inauguration and exploring ways of meeting their tips for social media success?
- Anthony Ha asks for the ability to add blog comments and that the RSS feed show full posts, not only headlines.
- Sarah Granger awaits less static content and more participatory initiatives.
- Bryan Yunashko suggests the technology infrastructure be improved in parallel with work on the Americans for Disabilities Act. One way is to modify the server architecture from IIS to Apache.
- Don Reisinger pokes at five social technologies that ought to be considered, such as AOL Instant Messenger or Present.ly. While the comments indicate he may be crazy, they’re worthy suggestions.
- Mitch Joel wonders if the President will show openness by keeping his BlackBerry.
- Jay Rosen argues the White House press corps is dead, as WhiteHouse.gov can be its own communicator.
- Dave Winer argues the White House shouldn’t blog, as there are plenty of blogs, but the site should be an inclusive public space. Dave wonders when he’ll see it.
Did you read Valeria Maltoni’s praise of the campaign’s new media efforts to shift the mindset from medium to message?
Clearly, you’re aware of the many innovations how the campaign and the inauguration used technology, right?
C.C. Chapman touches upon these ideas in this CNN iReport video about the Facebook integration and what it means for the future of new media.
In his inaugural address, the President orated:
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them…The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works…Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.
I can only speak for myself, but there are many areas where answers on the above for government technology are yesses and nos. If the 800+ blog comments added to BarackObama.com over the past 24 hours are any indication of support and ideas for change, I imagine the coming weeks and months will be challenging and eye-opening ones.
I envy your role.
I’ll be in DC in late March speaking at a Government 2.0 conference. Perhaps you’ll have some free time in the days before to meet and chat? Andy Beal jokingly offers his services as a White House director of transparency; are you seeking to expand your new media team? Perhaps hire some virtual consultants at a fraction of government contracts?
If this was helpful, Macon, I’d enjoy hearing from you or one of your colleagues below. Alternatively, I may be reached by Twitter or email. Thanks.
If your name is not Macon and you’re reading this sentence, care to chime in below?
Related posts:
Learn more about Ari and AriWriter by visiting 
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Ari, nicely-written post, but you are assembling critiques of what whitehouse.gov is, not what Macon says it will be. The pedantic tone isn’t my cup of tea either – sorry, but if anybody gets social media, it’s the Obama folks. Finally, the request for a one-on-one contradicts the rest of your implicit message that inclusivity and transparency. It looks like a turf grab, and not in the spirit of the movement that got President Obama elected.
I agree with John Bosma on this one. Great framing of references, but the last bit could’ve been offline, in a separate, personal email if you’re trying to ‘woo’ Macon.
In the best sense of the word, perhaps you’ve read ‘The Art of Woo’, by G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa of Wharton Biz School.
Thanks for all your other great writing…
Victoria´s last blog post..Can Etsy save retail?
Pedantic? Wooing? How so?
The title indicates this is a letter to someone, and the second paragraph ends with social media strategies I’m sharing. I then share what other people are saying, and end on the same tone as I begin: a letter to someone.
And, John? I don’t think the Obama team understands social media. They grasp new media for sure, but not social media. If they did, then the list of suggestions in the above bullets would already be implemented.
Ari, if nothing else, I commend you for tackling this topical subject and it certainly looks like you did your research and some mental outlining before you began writing.
It’s day one of the Obama term. I trust more will be revealed, restructured and tweaked in the weeks and months to come.
Thanks for the opportunity to share.
Snow Vandemore´s last blog post..As If He Doesn’t Have Enough To Worry About
Well, having observed some of the work up close, I think it’s quite clear from what’s happened the last two years that the Obama team understands social media quite well. You are of course free to assert superior credentials on that topic if you will.
There are good reasons all of the above features have not been implemented – including the fact that the people you’re quoting don’t agree with each other – as in the have-blog-comments vs. don’t-have-a-blog posts.
It’s one thing to understand social media, another to understand the implications of social media for democracy — desirable qualities like inclusiveness, representativeness, transparency, and ethics. Obama was a constitutional law professor of some repute; I suspect he and those around him have a better sense for the implications of social media for democracy than many of the consultants you reference. Witness the continuing implications in the whitehouse.gov discussions that social media are by inevitably inclusive. Simply bizarre.
There is also the matter of open government, open records, and privacy laws, where quite a bit of additional analysis needs to be done prior to implementing some features. Not to mention the notion that a Director of New Media would have an off-the-cuff, private conversation with a consultant on how to do things.
Not to mention some rather gnarly security considerations.
It’s Day One. Amazing people would expect more at this point. All in all, today’s whitehouse.gov is not a bad version of “Hello World.”
I think it’s quite clear from what’s happened the last two years that the Obama team understands social media quite well.
Considering Macon Phillips is the director of new media, not social media, I think that speaks to my earlier point. The campaign team skirted social media, but hardly used it. Broadcasting press releases on Twitter is not social media. Pushing content on MySpace and Facebook is not social media. Providing a means for online fundraising is not social media.
But like you say, John, it’s only day one. Let’s see what transpires.
Having looked at a lot of Congressional Facebook pages during the whole bailout debacle, I think the gap between social media and the Capitol is pretty darn broad. Let’s roll.
Adriel Hampton´s last blog post..Gov 2.0: Positive Engagement
Ari,
I think you’ve written a thoughtful post.
Perhaps Mr. Phillips can be forgiven for not updating his LinkedIn profile, given his surely hectic days, though as a social-media leader, you have a valid point.
The new WhiteHouse.gov team certainly ought to be given a bit of breathing space.
Let’s see if any of your proposed enhancements go into effect in the next few months.
-Josh
p.s. maybe you’ll have more luck getting a job if you frame as part of the economic-recovery package.
Hey Ari,
Nice post with an excellent summary – maybe your thoughts will be included among the “Citizen Briefings”….
- Andy
Andrew Krzmarzick´s last blog post..Peace Corps Connect – Web-Based Social Networking
How are you or any of these people you have linked experts? Seriously. Do you or any of these people understand how government works. Please read my post on this: http://technosailor.com/2009/01/23/if-youre-a-government-20-guru-you-have-no-business-in-government-20/
Aaron Brazell´s last blog post..WordPress Plugin Pack: Real Estate
Aaron: At no point did I state I was an expert. Nor did I mention the other bloggers are experts. What gave you that impression?
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I understand how government works. If you scroll to my LinkedIn profile, you can read more about my three years in state and local government. That doesn’t make me an expert either, but I know what I’m talking about.
Interesting synthesis, Ari.
I think there are many complications to this debate, so good to see some conversations.
The current crisis in the media industry is but one of them. Is it good for democracy to have unvetted transparency? If so, what does that look like? Is the 4th estate still valid? Do we need filters and expertise and ethical standards that are governed by institutions and organizations in the dissemenation of news and information? All of these questions and many more all play into the debate that is couched here in terms of social media. It think it is much, much larger that that. Merely from a community management perspective, how would that be managed? What would it look like? What would it change? I hope that these questions are being addressed so that suggestions like you cite may be able to come.
That said, I think it’s a little early to judge the Obama team on all this because running a government is a lot different than running a campaign.
There are a lot of other issues regarding more direct forms of government transparency, such as FOIA. Interesting opinion piece on that from NPR below:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99758429
At least we are seeing change come, slowly though it may.
Tiffany´s last blog post..One thing.
Hey Ari,
I mostly agree with you (though not with Don Reisinger or Jay Rosen!) on this; the President’s team has the resources to implement the majority of those bullet points.
Beyond that, however, I think it’s worth noting the newness of social media and the potential uses of and ramifications of using social media at such a high level of government. This really is the first administration to enter the White House with such a unique Internet landscape in front of them, and I think it’s worth being patient. Not everyone gets social media the way you do.
-Jillian
Jillian C. York´s last blog post..Hope
Much of your writing is pedantic or annoyingly glib. But I read regularly.
{ 6 trackbacks }