Social media is new, it’s exciting, and it can help us connect with more people in more ways than we thought possible just two years ago. For these reasons and others, social media can at times seem overwhelming and confusing. So here’s a brief look at what social media is, what it can do for you and your local government, and some tips for success.

First, what is social media? Social media, sometimes called Web 2.0 technology, is a loosely defined term that means a set of technologies with community and social dimensions. It is interactive, social, dynamic, user-centered, collaborative, and interoperable. Social media includes social networks (Facebook), blogs, micro blogs (Twitter), social content like photos and videos (Flickr, YouTube), podcasts, wikis, email lists (Listserv, RSS feeds), and message boards.

So why should local governments use social media? Because that’s where your citizens are.

• Sixty-five percent of online adults (18+) are using social media.
• The average social media user has 195 friends.
• The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups, and events.
• There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• Facebook is now the #1 channel on the Internet, surpassing Google.
• Twitter gets more than 300,000 new users every day.
• More than a third of users access Twitter via their mobile phone—a 62% increase since last April.

Social media provide local governments with new ways to reach the public and share information, photos, and videos. Citizens today are “multi-channeled,” and you should be too. They no longer get their information from one or two media sources like the newspaper or radio. They get information from the multitude of Web 2.0 sources and they increasingly expect their local governments to engage them through these channels.

And perhaps more importantly, social media can increase citizen feedback and engagement. Social media is all about engagement and discussion and it will help you and your government engage your citizens in ways you never could before.

Tips for Social Media Success

• Determine your strategic goals in using social media. To inform? To engage? Both?
• Develop a social media policy to ensure consistency, quality, and accuracy of information. Your policy should also address legal concerns and personal usage by government employees.
• Push information—news, announcements, project updates, town hall meeting notices, registration processes, senior programs, youth sport leagues, immunizations, alerts for weather and emergencies, and updates.
• Enable active participation in the content you post by allowing for comments, questions, opinions, requests for service, or education.
• Engage users that post questions and comments by responding to their comments or “retweeting.”
• Ask questions, set up polls or quizzes, and drive discussion for broader citizen feedback.
• Drive citizens to you website. Provide links in your posts on Facebook and your tweets on Twitter to pages on your website or specific web pages on your site for more information.

Measure Success

It’s important to measure the success of your social media practices, to see what’s working and what’s not. Go beyond output measures—page views/followers—to real program metrics, such as offline actions like percentage increases in event attendance and program registrations, drives to specific web pages, reduction in specific types of calls to your 311/CRM system.

Consider four areas to measure: exposure, engagement, influence, and action. The goal of social media should be to increase citizen engagement, government accountability, and responsive and cost-efficient communication.

Examples of effective local government social media sites

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/corybooker

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityofsancarlos

Podcast: http://www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/index.aspx?NID=757

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillycityrep

This article was adapted from a recent ICMA webconference, Social Media for Local Government: Unleash the Potential and Avoid the Pitfalls.