October 6, 2009 By Steve Towns, Editor
Growing use of social media has government agencies scrambling to develop rules for their employees who blog, Twitter, Facebook or contribute to any number of other Web 2.0 networks. Utah state government is confronting that issue with a newly developed set of rules for appropriate social media use by public employees and state officials.
Utah's social media guidelines, released Sept. 29, offer thoughtful advice to state employees who participate in social networks. The guidelines offer tips for creating interesting and valuable content. They also warn employees to be honest and respectful in their postings, urge them to think before replying to comments, and remind them to follow state privacy laws.
"We want to make sure that when our agencies use social media, they do it responsibly and that they recognize the difference between social media as a private individual and social media as a public or government representative - that's not clear to some people," said Utah Chief Technology Officer Dave Fletcher. "We want to make sure that individual employees understand what is expected of them when they're posting as a government representative."
Fletcher, who is a prolific blogger and microblogger, said the guidelines take on growing importance as Utah government agencies embrace the use of collaborative, Web 2.0 networks. The Utah state portal includes more than 30 blogs from public entities, including 15 from state government organizations. And more than 200 Twitter feeds come from state and local agencies within the state.
"More and more our agencies are using social media, and there are increasing expectations from citizens that agencies will interact with them when they have issues and questions," Fletcher said. "So the agencies are being proactive in that, and it's also a way that agencies can tell their stories and share their services."
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