Social Media and Libraries

Today, i gave a presentation on social media to our Libraries Management Team (i am doing the tour around different teams at present and so far it is going down well) and was very impressed with their positive attitudes towards supporting and developing these tools within the service.  I must admit that the ideas that were suggested took me by surprise as it went further then i was hoping. My initial idea was to really just raise the awareness and to stimulate discussion to the point where i may need to go back and delve deeper into specific topics. But oh no, The new Head of Libraries Ciara Eastell, who is on Facebook herself, has from what she said been thinking about this and some of the ideas are very transformational within the libraries arena but exactly where libraries should be.

Examples of the ideas include:

• Surgery sessions for the public linked – supporting digital literacy and adult learning
  • “how to use facebook and become a fan of your local library”
  • “how to load photos to flickr”
  • “how to use twitter”
  • “how to use RSS”
• Expanded internal sessions (linked to social media forum) on how to make the best of social media.
• developing a social network to involve young children as part of a national reading agency project (groupthing.org)
• using tools as a way to invite feedback about premises and modernisation issues (photos of old carpets or wall paper etc – loaded onto a website for improvement ideas)
• Libraries 2.0 – virtual libraries

I am really excited about the potential work that libraries could achieve using these tools. There are many more ways in which the library service could use these tools and we as a council have already explored flickr which i previously posted on my blog

On a broader note i am very impressed with the willingness and eagerness of my council to explore these tools as part of a wider web strategy framework and i must confess i am currently loving the work i do in this area.

I do have to manage my own expectations on what is actually deliverable and by when but the culture seems to be shifting towards something very positive, open and inclusive here.

Organisations as Culture Filters – Social Media and Culture Change Series Part 1

This is the first of a series of posts about Social Media and Culture Change. My aim is to share my thoughts and learning around social media and how it can help transform organisations as well as connecting organisations (well the people in them) with the ever increasing communities that are developing in these new social spaces.  I also hope that others will want to contribute, validate or challenge what i post.

This first post will look at Organisations as culture filters.

What i find interesting about this is the contrast to how people interact with their friends, peers and social networks in their personal lives and how they conduct the same kind of functions within the work place. This contrast is essentially why i have titled this organisations as culture filters, however we do have to accept at this point in time there are logical reasons why this is happening, but that doesn’t mean that it should continue.

The following i hope provides a helpful comparison and is a broad view, which i feel applies across the public sector and perhaps the private and voluntary sectors as well. but i can’t comment on those.

Personal Life

• we pretty much all have mobile and flexible lifestyles
• personal devices are multifunctional – mobile phones are also music devices, personal calendars, email clients, GPS devices and internet browsers
• our interaction with technology is shifting from traditional methods of using keyboards and a mouse to speech and movement recognition, the nintendo Wii is a great example of how this technology is transforming and creating new opportunities for engagement with technology and networks on a global scale
• We have greater freedom to choose what we want in terms of what technology choices fit within or broader lifestyle – apple mac or PC, windows or linux, nokia or iphone, broadband or wifi, digital tv or satellite/cable, the choice is pretty much ours in all cases, depending on affordability and practicality.
• ease of upgrade – we all “secretly” want the latest gadget or at least strive to have the best fit gadgets for our lifestyle and it can all be achieved easily generally via an upgrade or a download or even swapping with friends and colleagues.

This personal life has also evolved a culture behind it which is fundamentally different to organisations and this difference can not continue, something has to give.

Aspects of the Culture

• we now tend to have an “us” culture and not a “me” culture
• communication is one to many or many to many and not one to one
• we prefer digital not analogue
• we prefer flexibility and mobility over fixed and stable
• we have a consumer control environment and not an organisational control environment

Organisation/business life

• there is a move toward flexible and mobile working but the technology has not yet caught up to effectively support that approach for all, so it still feels exclusive to a lot of people.
• you may not even get additional work devices to perform your job, a PC of some kind or maybe a laptop, mobile phones are meant for mobile calling and are not meant for mobile working and multifunctional purposes, even if they are capable, they can often be disabled of their core functions.
• we still very much interact with a keyboard and mouse (unless of course for accessibility reasons you are already using alternatives)
• there is corporate control over the desktop and over applications which may or may not be supportive to an individual.
• new products and applications are often blocked and often access to web based services is blocked.
• there is still very much a corporate police role in the public sector as a whole which is more about risk aversion then risk management. Managers often talk about new tools being socially based and a waste of time, they only have a negative impact on teams. This distracts from the view that managers don’t manage people they manage time, which in my view is counter productive and often encourages misuse.  The reality is that the web/internet as a whole began as a “toy” and was for some considerable time seen as something for tourism information and academics and not online business and interaction. If we could only learn from the last 15 years we would be embracing the new wave now.

aspects of Culture

• Command and control culture, top down and everything in order
• communications has elements of one to many, however the feedback loop is often closed and doesn’t effectively feed into improvement but rarely provides many to many.
• strong support for digital, but there are barriers, sometimes outside of public sector control over usage and take-up
• we encourage flexibility but often lack the skills and knowledge to manage this new way of working effectively. How often do you hear, there are some jobs that simply can not be flexible. That may be accurate due to current business processes and technology, but unless you ask the questions, what does someone need to perform this task from home or on the go, you will never truly have a flexible workforce
• Organisations still want and demand control, there is a political aspect which often conflicts with some of the changes required. But strong leadership will always be effective when massive change is inevitable.

The role of social media/web 2.0…

Social media for me and from personal experience has proved very useful. i can find tools that connect me to others with similar interests, i can connect with others who can help me, i can also help other people i am connected with. All of this has essentially been done outside of a “corporate framework” and has been achievable because all of the tools i have started to use are web based and are easy and simple to use.

Social media or even web 2.0 depending on whether you look at tools or outputs, has shifted culture towards a new way of thinking. For me the world seems much smaller, flatter and collaborative then previously thought and witnessed.

New generations (so called digital natives) are working in groups to solve problems and are seeking and discovering new ways to connect with each other. Now whilst i believe the future will be very different, most of us now seem to be split between personal life and work (the old don’t mix business with pleasure scenario). New tools are increasingly blurring that line and new business models are emerging.

In terms of change and rapid growth and adoption of new technologies, we have all been here before, the dot.com era, showed that. Whilst the majority of businesses failed during this time and lots of people got their fingers burnt, some great innovative companies succeeded and have continued to grow and dominate their field.

The reality of these new approaches is the fact that the cost of failure is small or non existent, the risk to participate and try new things has reduced significantly that anyone in there bedroom can become the next big thing and try many versions of something without needing huge capital funds to get off the ground.

I have recently started to believe that social media and web 2.0 is more than just technology it is a statement about you, a direction of travel for most people, if you participate, it actually says a lot about you -  for example:

• you want to be part of a community and many communities regardless of geography or religion or race or ability.
• you want to share what you create and are happy for that to be passed around the globe and reproduced without making any money from it, only recognition.
• you are happy to tell everyone what you are doing at any given time, from “making a cup of tea” to “just seen something hilarious”
• you want to explore and evolve your identify (avatars, second life, WoW, online gaming etc)
• you are happy to share information (often not normally shared) about yourself with friends and friends of friends and even networks and communities
• you don’t see organisational barriers to learning and sharing knowledge, information is power and we all seem happy to share
• you want to be part of practical communities who can make a difference, who can influence and enable large scale change.

This is a new way of thinking and one which challenges most of what people hold dear to them now. The reality is everyone still has a choice and that is what makes it so appealing. I can participate if i want to, and it doesn’t have to cost me anything to do that.

The new thinking is very altruistic in its nature as it ensures that the wider network succeeds even if some individuals loose the ability to gain relative to what they contribute. That does depend on what you want to get from it. It seems to be a global exchange system, where you can do someone a favour today and in return they will help others on the basis that when you need help you will get it. Very new world and radical, but it seems to work and it is growing rapidly. I for one, support this as when you are actually part of it, you don’t feel alone, you feel connected with everyone and that is a powerful thought to hold on to.

So as this post comes to a close, it is worth exploring, why these tools seem so popular and how they have rapidly integrated themselves into our daily lives and are on the verge of transforming organisations and to some degree countries themselves. My next post will focus on this topic – “What is driving the culture”

If Social Media were a chicken and Culture shift was an Egg, which would come first?

I think this post will lead to a series of posts around how social media can help transform organisations and communities and hopefully bridging the gap between the two.

It occurred to me recently that with all that social media can facilitate and achieve, it really requires a culture shift to fully embrace the potential. Maybe the potential will always remain potential but should we really accept that?

But on the flip side, social media and the way in which it can challenge current thinking can lead to a culture shift, so which should come first.  A culture shift to embrace social media or Social media to help change the culture?

as a starting point Craig Thomler from eGov AU posted on this subject and it makes an interesting read.  The point i take from this point is that whilst eGov in the UK was about developing and creating interactive websites and online services to encourage new ways of delivering services to the citizens. It failed because it didn’t focus on the people and culture change issues.

Whilst reading the review of the recent “ReadWriteGov” event, i noticed quote on a slide from Steph Gray.

“interactive websites need Interactive organisations”

So i guess at this stage, what i want to get from these posts is a deeper understanding around the new models of engagement, the new self selecting communities of interest and if possible new opportunities for democracy and political engagement in decision making.

The increasing impact of social media on the political landscape

I am not going to write formally about my views on politics in general but with Americans voting in Barack Obama for what is being hailed as a historic and landmark event in global politics, i feel i need to mention a few things and ask one of two questions.

It has been widely recognised that one of the key support tools Obama used during his campaign were the new and social media platforms that are available. These tools were simply not as widely supported before so their reach did not generate the same effect this time round. What is interesting about all of this, is i believe that politics and elections across the globe will never be the same again.  That for me is a good thing, because living in the UK i don’t think i have ever felt part of the US Elections as i have done this time round, due to the social networks that i belong too and the different means in which the media has been presented and shared across the world, for some reason, i felt i also wanted to vote, that is very powerful considering i am over 3000 miles away.

Jeremiah Owyang posted “Snapshot of Presidential Candidate Social Networking Stats” on the 3rd November which showed the following stats

Facebook

Obama: 2,379,102 supporters

McCain: 620,359 supporters

Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

YouTube

Obama: 1792 videos uploaded since Nov 2006, Subscribers: 114,559 (uploads about 4 a day), Channel Views: 18,413,110

McCain: 329 videos uploaded since Feb 2007 (uploads about 2 a day), Subscribers: 28,419, Channel Views: 2,032,993

Obama has 403% more subscribers than McCain

Obama has 905% more viewers than McCain

Twitter

Obama: @barackobama has 112,474 followers

McCain: @JohnMcCain (is it real?) 4,603 followers

Obama has 240 times more followers in Twitter than McCain

But if you look today (5th November) there is already an incredible increase in followers and supported for Obama. The main questions i have though is will these media tools still be used as pro-actively now that he has been elected?

The thought occurred to me, as i am sure it has with many people recently, can this be replicated in the UK for our general elections, or even local elections?  well i doubt it, whilst we (general public) seem to be fed more and more information by the media about the personalities and celebrity of current MP’s, it doesn’t quite seem the same to me, we don’t really vote for individuals, although “the leader” does play a part. Tony Blair being a great example of this. But the reality is we still after all is said and done vote for a “party” and a “view”.

Chris Reed posted on this very subject and highlights 4 examples of how it could be utilised by UK politicians  – he writes:

1) Motivating the supporter base. Preaching to the converted remains important. They’re the ones who help get the votes out on the day

2) Fundraising. We haven’t seen the levels of individual donations that the US elections rely on, but given recent ship-based discussions I predict that the parties will have to tap more voters (i.e. not just party members) than ever before in the next election

3) Policy development and argument. The internet is basically a pub. It’s where people talk, and clever people listen. Sometimes it’s an early warning system. Sometimes it’s an echo-chamber. But it provides unrivalled access to what people are actually thinking. Political parties of all shades should take note, and tweak their policies accordingly

4) The personalisation of politics. Rather perversely – being friended by a politician can sometimes be akin to being “followed” by a celebrity on twitter (@stephenfry anyone?) All politicians are looking for that “personal” touch. Using social media wisely can help to make individual supporters feel special, and, when used appropriately, can also help answer critics’ questions in a sincere and honest way.

In relation to the impact of social media on the US Election, it is hard to demonstrate exactly what impact is has had, but if you understand how social media and social networks are used then it can start to demonstrate the potential for increased communications and dialogue with people. A recent news release in Science Daily highlights research that Dr. Paul Haridakis, associate professor of Communication Studies at Kent State University is doing where he states “Many people, will watch videos and use traditional media like TV to acquire political information about the candidates, but they also are going to the Internet and using social networking sites to see who people they know support. The information gleaned from their social networks may be the information they find most credible and persuasive”  This basic level of peer to peer confirmation was validated in our recent consultation with young people, where they said social networks are places they meet and hang out with their friends. We are in a society where consumer empowerment is becoming increasingly more accessible and this will only get more pervasive as time goes on.

The impact of your friends views and the fact that by there nature social media tools are global it does raise some interesting questions about external influence from peers around the world on an individuals choice Dahna M. Chandler’s blog – Getting Social Media Savvy recently posted Social Media and the U.S. Presidential Election: What if the World Could Vote for US President?, This website shows an amazing result in favour of Obama:

Barack Obama        87.3% (758,041 votes)
John McCain           12.7% (110,103 votes)

So why such interest in the US Election? Is it because we all do really care who is in charge of one of the most powerful countries in the world, or is it because the tools we now use on a daily basis, which connect us to the lives of people who actually do need to make a choice and that in itself inspires our interest. Or is it something bigger, something more social.

The US Election has done a great things for social media and social media has done great things for the US Election, but has it changed the world, have we all started to realise more and more that we are truly one community connected by our interests and that our geography is no longer a barrier to networking. Has it also made big business and future political leaders sit up and take notice of the power of consumer/citizen engagement. Martin Bowling guest posted back in October on searchenginepeople How The US Election Is Changing Social Media, Online Rep Management & The World where he tsalks about 3 keys things that have occurred.

1. The partisanship/overtly political statements that people are so willing to put out there without regard to online reputation management issues
2. The effect of partisan/overtly political comments on the relationships that people have worked hard to form online and finally
3. The transformation of twitter from a simple conversation tool to a full blown memetracker

If you want to see how much social media “stuff” is out there just for the election then Jarrett Martineau has posted Social Media Mania and the US Election: the Best Links & Resources

I am still left with the question, “will it all continue?” after reading all the websites i have read in the last few days about the impact, it would be a shame to loose the momentum that it has now gained from this event.

Finally, we do seem to be entering a period of change, lets hold on and ride the wave.

DRAFT V0.1 – social media and online participation policy and guidelines

As part of the formal consultation and feedback that i am doing internally, i thought it woudl be helpful to share and invoke comments from anyone with regard a draft policy/guidelines for social media and online participation.

There are some links to internal intranet pages which are obviously not available via this blog

This is a draft version v0.1 and i would welcome any comments. I have intentionally tried to keep this short and focused as i want it to be readable by all staff and not a traditional long winded policy.

Introduction

‘Social media’ is the term commonly given to websites and online tools which allow users to interact with each other in some way – by sharing information, opinions, knowledge and interests. As the name implies, social media involves the building of communities or networks, encouraging participation and engagement.

Principles

These principles apply to your online participation and sets out the standards of behaviour expected as an employee of the Council. Remember, you should participate in the same way as you would with other media or public forums such as giving presentations.

1. Be professional; remember that you are an ambassador for your organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your directorate, department or team.
2. Be responsible, be honest at all times and when you gain insight; share it with others where appropriate.
3. Be credible, be accurate, fair, and thorough and make sure you are doing the right thing.

Always remember that participation online results in your comments being permanently available and open to being republished in other media.

Never give out personal details like home address and phone numbers.

Also be aware that you may attract media interest in you as an individual, so proceed with care whether you are participating in a business or a personal capacity. If you have any doubts, take advice from your line manager.

Stay within the legal framework and be aware that libel, defamation, copyright and data protection laws apply.

You are accountable, you should not disclose information, make commitments or engage in activities on behalf of the Council unless you are authorised to do so. This authority may already be delegated or may be explicitly granted depending on you circumstances.

General Guidelines

Blogs are perhaps the most well known example of social media, but the term encompasses other platforms. Examples include podcasts, ‘wikis’ (such as Wikipedia), message boards, social bookmarking websites (such as del.icio.us), social networking websites (such as facebook,  bebo, MySpace) and content sharing websites (such as flickr, YouTube).

‘Social media’ can be referenced in a variety of ways, often depending on which sector is discussing it. Other terms which may be used in a similar context include ’social software’, ’social computing’ and ‘Web 2.0′. For convenience we use ’social media’ throughout.

The growing popularity of social media has attracted the attention of companies and individuals who believe that these platforms open up new opportunities for communication. The opportunities are indeed there, as are the pitfalls. The following guidelines are there to provide you with information to make responsible decisions and to get the best out of the tools available.

Whether or not a DCC employee chooses to create or participate in a blog, wiki, online social network or any other form of online publishing or discussion is his or her own decision. However, emerging online collaboration platforms are fundamentally changing the way DCC employee’s work and engage with each other, customers and our partners.

People have been dismissed because of their online activities. While such cases may be rare, it is important as an employee to be aware that posting information about your company can not be isolated from your working life. Any information published online can be accessed around the world within seconds and will be publicly available for all to see.

As an employee, you should take the following into consideration when using social media:

1. Know and follow DCC’s Employee Code of Conduct.
2. Understand your responsibilities identified in the Social Media and Online Participation Principles and Policy
3. Don’t forget your day job. You must ensure that your online activities do not interfere with your job, your colleagues or commitments to customers.
4. DCC Employee’s are personally responsible for the content they publish on blogs, wikis or any other form of user-generated media. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time-protect your privacy.
5. Identify yourself-name and, when relevant, role at DCC-when you discuss DCC or DCC related matters.  And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of DCC.
6. If you publish content to any website outside of DCC and it has something to do with work you do or services associated with DCC, use a disclaimer such as this: “The views expressed here are my own and don’t necessarily represent the views of the County Council.”
7. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
8. Ask and seek permission to publish or report on conversations that are meant to be private or internal to DCC. Don’t cite or reference customers, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, where possible link back to the source.
9. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in the workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory-such as politics and religion.
   See acceptable behaviour policy and equality and diversity policy
10. Be aware of your association with DCC in online spaces. If you identify yourself as a DCC employee, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and customers.
11. Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
12. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. DCC’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on DCC’s brand.

Guidelines for Blogging/Bloggers

1. If you already have a personal blog or website which indicates in any way that you work at DCC you should tell your manager.
2. If you want to start blogging, and your blog/website will say that you work for DCC you should tell your manager.
3. If your blog makes it clear that you work for DCC, it should include a simple and visible disclaimer such as “The views expressed here are my own and don’t necessarily represent the views of the County Council.”".
4. Find out who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them.
5. Don’t reveal confidential information. This might include aspects of DCC policy or details of internal DCC discussions. Again, consult your manager if you are unclear about what might be confidential.
6. You should not use your blogs to attack or abuse colleagues. You should respect the privacy and the feelings of others. Remember that if you break the law on your blog (for example by posting something defamatory), you will be personally responsible.
7. If you think something on your blog or website gives rise to concerns about a conflict of interest and in particular concerns about impartiality or confidentiality this must be discussed with your manager.
8. If someone offers to pay you for blogging this could constitute a conflict of interest and you must consult your manager.
9. If someone from the media or press contacts you about posts on your blog that relate to the DCC you should talk to your manager before responding. The relevant DCC press office must be consulted.
10. You are allowed to update your personal blog from a DCC computer at work, under the DCC Social Media and Online Participation Policy.

Guidelines for Managers

1. Under these guidelines managers in each area will decide what is appropriate. They should not adopt an unnecessarily restrictive approach. Managers should ensure that any special instructions on blogging are reasonable and explained clearly to staff.
2. Managers should bear in mind concerns about impartiality, confidentiality, conflicts of interest or commercial sensitivity. In some cases individuals may be dealing with matters which are so sensitive that rules may have to be set on what they can and cannot talk about on their personal blog.
3. Those involved in press must take particular care to ensure that they do not undermine the integrity or impartiality of DCC or its output on their blogs. For example those involved in factual areas should not advocate a particular position on high profile controversial subjects relevant to their areas.

Guidelines for Social Networks, Discussions forums, wikis etc

1. Use the privacy settings available – background information you choose to share about yourself, such as information about your family or personal interests, may be useful in helping establish a relationship between you and your readers, but it is entirely your choice whether to share this information.
2. Ask permission before posting someone’s picture in a social network or a conversation that was meant to be private
3. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, but do so respectfully. This includes not only the obvious (no ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, etc.) but also proper consideration of privacy and of topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory-such as politics and religion
4. Under no circumstance should offensive comments be made about DCC colleagues on the Internet.  This may amount to cyber-bullying and could be deemed a disciplinary offence.
5. It is not advisable to invite customers to become your friends in social networking sites for business purposes. There maybe a conflict of interest and security and privacy issues (see notes)
6. Use your best judgment. Remember that there are always consequences to what you publish. If you’re about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, review the suggestions above and think about why that is
7. Ensure that your entries, articles or comments are neutral in tone, factual and verifiable. In addition, there are usually guidelines in sites such as wikipedia on adding links. Read the guidelines carefully before submitting or editing an article.
8. If staff members edit online encyclopedias at work the source of the correction will be recorded as a DCC IP address.  The intervention may therefore look as if it comes from DCC itself.  DCC staff should therefore act in a manner that does not bring DCC into disrepute and should not post derogatory or offensive comments on any online encyclopedias
9. When correcting errors about DCC, we should be transparent about who we are.  We should never remove criticism of DCC.  Instead, we should respond to legitimate criticism.  We should not remove derogatory or offensive comments but must report them to the relevant administrators for them to take action.
10. Before editing an online encyclopedia entry about DCC, or any entry which might be deemed a conflict of interest, DCC staff should consult the house rules of the site concerned and, if necessary, ask permission from the relevant wikieditor.  They may also need to seek advice from their line manager.

NOTES: If you wish to use these platforms for business purposes such as participation, engagement and consultation with young people please refer to the supplementary policy and guidance

Guidelines for Video and Media sharing

1. Ensure that all video and media (including presentations) are safe to share and do not contain any confidential or derogatory information.
2. If the content is official and corporate DCC content then it must be labeled and tagged as such and must not be affiliated with an individual.
3. Individual work must be labeled and tagged as such and where appropriate a disclaimer used.

Guidelines for email and instant messaging etc

The following is in addition to the email standards specified in the Customer Service and Communicating Clearly Standards (plain English)

This section describes how to structure and format outgoing emails. This serves to:

• ensure quality of email across different email clients
• prevent the abuse of email applications by 3rd-party spammers, which might result in DCC email being blacklisted (as an open relay)
• prevent abuse of the DCC email system to send offensive emails
• prevent emails which purport to come from (impersonate) DCC staff

1.       All email headers MUST contain a valid DCC ‘From’ header email address, through which problems can be resolved. A ‘Reply-To’ header may be used if you wish to have genuine user replies delivered to a different email address.

2.       Every email MUST include a ‘Subject’ header appropriate to its purpose and content; and clearly indicate the email is from the DCC.

If sending email in HTML format:

1.       You SHOULD test the rendering of HTML email in the most popular email clients.

2.       You MUST have the correct headers (MIME types), at the very least, including:

a.       Content-Type: text/html

b.      MIME-Version: 1.0