In late 2011, social networking surpassed online gaming as
the most popular online activity — globally, nearly one in every five
minutes online that year was spent on social networking sites, according
to digital business analyst firm comScore. Smartphone users now spend
an average of 24 minutes each day using social networking apps,
according to app services company Flurry. There are more than 1.2
billion active social media users worldwide.
Government agencies, of course, have jumped on this trend, making use of
social media to better communicate with constituents, voters and
citizens. But where does the CIO fit in?
A relatively small, but growing, contingent of public CIOs are prolific
social media users, fearlessly Facebooking and eagerly contributing to
the blogosphere and Twitterverse. These social CIOs say their direct
involvement in social media benefits them personally and professionally —
and it helps them drive effective social media adoption, strategy and
policy within their agencies or departments. Here’s a look at social
media through their eyes.
A Good Vantage Point
Casey Coleman, CIO of the U.S. General Services Administration, is
an early adopter who has been using social media applications since
2007. During one recent month, Coleman tweeted more than 40 times on
subjects ranging from business intelligence software to weight loss,
activity that has garnered her nearly 5,000 Twitter followers and a
national reputation as one of the nation’s most social CIOs.
She says participation in online social media platforms provides a
vantage point to observe and understand emerging industry trends, and to
learn from her peers in the federal IT and CIO communities.
“It also affords GSA and me the opportunity to communicate effectively
with various stakeholder groups,” Coleman added. “This participation
facilitates building relationships and networks to help us perform our
mission more effectively.”
For Barry Condrey, CIO of Chesterfield County, Va., it’s about
participating in a worldwide trend toward connectedness and
collaboration. “We are watching the world as it is shrinking. There are
more cellphones than people on the planet now,” said Condrey, who tweets
almost daily. “Social media isn’t going anywhere. The channel has been
built for us. There is huge value for governments that want to exploit
it.”
Chris Moore, CIO of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, is another prolific
tweeter. He says social media is a necessity for public CIOs. “A CIO/CTO
who does not embrace social media is a leader who chooses to live in
the past, and within the next two to five years will become irrelevant.”
Building a Brand
Most social CIOs say the biggest benefits from these activities are
better collaboration and networking. Social media applications have
become platforms for trading information about challenges, projects and
results — especially in the public sector, where sharing is valued over
competition. A growing number of CIOs actively use social media to
participate in communities of special interest; recruit employees;
research and learn; and gain insight on vendors and industry trends.
“The main benefit to me directly, as a CTO, was in helping to build my
own personal reputation and brand,” said Bill Schrier, former CTO of
Seattle who recently became deputy director of the Center for Digital
Government, which is owned by Public CIO’s parent company e.Republic
Inc.
“Social media allowed me to connect with the news media and the start-up
community directly,” Schrier added. “Your primary role as a CIO is to
manage the internal IT environment, but I believe we also have a role in
encouraging the technology and start-up communities.”
For the GSA’s Coleman, social media also became a valuable tool for
internal communication. Following a major restructuring at her agency,
an internal blog created by Coleman helped knit together a team spread
nationwide.
In a broader sense, social media activity can boost citizen engagement.
For instance, strategic social media adoption led Utah to increase
traffic to its websites and services by close to 100 percent over the
past five and a half years (from 650,000 unique visitors to 1.3
million).
“The value can be extensive if used correctly,” said state CTO David
Fletcher, who routinely tweets four to five times per day. “It is an
opportunity to help move toward the future, and it enables a degree of
collaboration that is not possible through any other channel.”
Go Where the People Are
Many of these CIOs recognized the potential value of social media —
and began playing with and using platforms like Twitter and Facebook —
about five years ago. It was up to them to convince an often wary group
of colleagues and supervisors that what they were doing had value to the
entire department or agency.
In Roanoke County, Va., Director of Communications and Information
Technology Bill Greeves was one of them — he began exploring social
media in 2008, when the recession became undeniable. “I was worried that
it would mean a slowdown in technology innovation on our part,” said
Greeves, whose position was equivalent to a CIO. He has since become CIO
of Wake County, N.C. “Social media was emergent at that point, and
something I had initially dismissed as a novelty. But once I found
others who were interested, the potentials became more and more
apparent.”
A regular blogger and early adopter of social media apps, platforms and
tools, Greeves is viewed by many of his peers as a pioneer and expert in
social media usage. He is a founding member of MuniGov, a nonprofit
organization made up entirely of volunteer members interested in
promoting the value of innovations like Web 2.0 in government.
“Whether or not Facebook is great is not the point,” Greeves said. “The
point is, there are hundreds of millions of people there. Why not spend
time where they are? You may not like social media, but hundreds of
millions of other people do.”
And that’s what these CIOs have learned.
In Richland County, S.C., CIO Janet Claggett says that social media is
critical to her ability to stay informed on the latest breaking
technology news. “I cannot imagine being up to date without social
media, and believe it is extremely important professionally; as CIOs, we
are responsible for staying on top of trends,” she said. “It also helps
me to identify best practices to assist my organization in improving
operational excellence in sustainable ways.”
For Michele Hovet, former CIO of Arvada, Colo., who is now the deputy
city manager, social media allows her to easily build a community.
“Everything really is about community, and community on the Internet is
no different,” she said. “Most people like to feel part of something
special or unique, and social media for city or personal use allows this
to happen.”
The city recently increased its commitment to social media by creating a
team of “community communication coordinators.” The positions, formerly
standard reception roles, now require that 30 to 40 percent of the
worker’s time be focused on social media and Web communication.
Personally, Hovet says she uses social media to keep track of happenings
that are important to her. “I follow people on Twitter who educate me
and bring me articles I would have never otherwise seen. I also use it
to showcase things I find interesting about my community or my career.”
she said. “What I learn by using social media helps me to keep my job
skills relevant and gets me a broader view of what’s happening with my
peers.”
The Next Big Thing
In government, where there can be a tendency to hold meetings and
want to do everything face-to-face, social media also opens up
inexpensive communication channels to much broader groups of people,
internally and publicly. “It is a great way to get to know people across
the country, without ever meeting them face to face,” Hovet said. For
CIOs specifically, it has tremendous value in facilitating ongoing
communication among peers, providing a sounding board for direct
feedback from people facing the same issues, challenges and
opportunities.
Nearly all of these social CIOs add that they’re carefully watching for
the next social media craze to capture the public’s eye. For instance,
many are starting to explore Pinterest and its applications to
government.
Whatever form that social media takes in the future, these CIOs say they’re ready to join in.
“I truly believe that social media for any CIO, public or private
sector, is a lifeline to the world,” Hovet said. “I think those leaders
in a CIO role that don’t participate in social media are missing the
boat. The world will move on in this social new way, without them.”
