Government in the Age of Web 2.0

IBM Center for The Business of Government today: The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0 [ 7mb PDF] by David C. Wyld, Associate Professor Southeastern Louisiana University Department of Management.

This is a very comprehensive report researching a wide range of public sector, corporate and other blogs with lots of common-sense and clear advice. It includes a very long list of links to blogs by Fire Chiefs, politicians and CEOs.

Wikis, blogs, video, and audio files that can be distributed for free in seconds to millions —these collaborative tools may make possible a future that one observer has noted “will require the greatest change in management thinking since the likes of General Motors invented the corporation in the early 20th century” (Maney, 2006, n.p.)

More and more, as one wanders around the local coffeehouse, the local university, the park, city streets, or your own offices, we see living proof that more and more of our lives are being spent online. thus, to be an effective leader today, we must wander online.

Blogging Options for Public Officials

• The Travel Blog
• The Blow-by-Blow Blog
• The Personal Blog
• The Team Blog

Blogging policy

A good example of such is the IBM corporate blogging guidelines (IIBM, 2005), which were developed internally through a wiki involving bloggers within IBM (http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/een/guidelines.html)
Other prominent organizations that have published blogging guidelines for their organizations and employees include:

• Harvard Law School (2007): http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/home/terms-of-use
• Hill & Knowlton (2005): http://blogs.hillandknowlton.com/blogs/niallcook/archive/2005/005/119/2279.aspx.
• Sun Microsystems (2007): http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/mmedia/blogs/BloggingGuidelines.pdf
• Thomas Nelson (2007): http://blogs.thomasnelson.com/pages/BloggingGuidelines.htm.

Bev Godwin of USA.gov recently stated:“Some rules about government information apply to blogs as they would for any information the government distributes. ”

Get ‘Dooced’ for Blogging

What does getting “Dooced ” mean?Well,in the blogosphere,this is the term used when workers are fired by their employer for their blogging activities.the origin of the phrase comes from Heather Armstrong, who blogs under the pseudonym “Dooce” online at (http://www.dooce.com).

Blogging Can Be Kryptonite

Take Kryptonite, for example. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, the company, which makes locks for bicycles, is a subsidiary of Ingersoll-rand. In 2004, Kryptonite found itself in the middle of a blogstorm. Bloggers posted videos showing how, using a ballpoint pen, one could easily break open a specific model of Kryptonite bicycle lock—which was true. However, bloggers also spread erroneous information that all Kryptonite locks had this vulnerability and that the company was covering up the problem. the company spent millions replacing locks and countering the negative publicity over the past year. Steven Down, Kryptonite ’s general manager, said from experience: “A blogger can go out and make any statement about anybody, and you can’t control it. that’s a difficult thing” (quoted in Lyons, 2005, n.p.).

10 Tips for Blogging by Public Sector Executives

• Tip 1: Define yourself and your purpose
• Tip 2: Do it yourself!
• Tip 3: Make a time commitment
• Tip 4: Be regular
• Tip 5: Be generous
• Tip 6: Have a “hard hide”
• Tip 7: Spell-check
• Tip 8: Don’t give too much information
• Tip 9: Consider multimedia
• Tip 10: Be a student of blogging