Social Software in Government: Headed for Mainstream

Since Alan Lepofsky and I spoke last month at Social Media for Government, I've been having a lot of conversations with beltway folks. There's a ton of interest in social media in government. It all started back in 2006 when the intelligence community launched Intellipedia as a community-based forum for sharing vital information across intelligence agencies. I started getting involved with government uses of social media when I joined Socialtext in the fall of 2007. Since that time, the community has come a long way. Here are some trends I'm noticing:

Government folks are really jazzed about social media. Within all industries, there's some level of excitement and passion for social software. In government, it's off the charts. I think that's because there's such a high level of frustration with existing rules and restrictions. People are dying to talk to each other, and to free themselves from the restrictions that government processes have put in place. Intellipedia was an inspiration to many, many agencies and individuals.

It's not just Intellipedia anymore. The government community is savvy about social software. It's not just Intellipedia, and it's not just wikis anymore: people are talking about and using blogs, wikis, social networking, and micro-blogging. They're using proprietary tools for internal collaboration and social networking, and they're using public tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Wikipedia to reach out to the world beyond the Beltway.

The interest has an hourglass shape. Senior government officials "get it"; they see social software as a way for government agencies to be more integrated with the communities they serve. Junior and mid-level staffers "get it"; they see social software as a way to cut through bureaucracy and work more effectively day-to-day. The obstacle I hear about again and again is upper-middle managers who have internalized the need for minimizing risk, while not yet adopting a strategic mindset around serving the needs of the agency's external stakeholders.

People anticipate a major take-off with the Obama administration. Government staffers who use social software still feel like mavericks who are doing something that is, at best, grudgingly tolerated. A lot of folks I'm talking to think this will change with the new administration. The Obama campaign understood deeply the power of informal communities and was extremely sophisticated in mobilizing those communities. It's a reflection of Obama himself, the man Rudy Giuliani so memorably mocked for his experience as a "community organizer." A lot of people in D.C. now sense that social software is about to go mainstream in a big way.

Comments

[Kadidid]

Great post! I fully agree with your view about government agencies' increasing interest towards social media. FEMA, DHS, DoD and NIH are just a few agencies that have adopted social media. I am looking forward to see even more changes with the Obama administration.

[Rob]

It's not just the government - middle managers EVERYWHERE are lousy on pickup, and I suspect it's because they're overworked and stuck. As you rise within a bureaucracy, there's stronger and stronger incentives to do things the 'right' way, that is, the way they were when your boss had the job (often, he/she still is your boss, just higher up the chain) and the benefits to risk-taking are far less than the potential costs. Besides, unless social software seriously reduces work burden - and it can, if used properly - then why change?

Middle managers everywhere will not see this comment, as they will be too busy digging out from under a mountain of unread e-mails, memos, performance reviews, 1st quarter projections, 4th quarter reports, etc.