/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/topics/social-media/ Recent content in Social media on Digital.gov Hugo en-us /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/california-wildfires-guidance-for-u-s-government-websites-and-social-media/ Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/california-wildfires-guidance-for-u-s-government-websites-and-social-media/ Addressing web and digital communications related to the California wildfires. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/an-introduction-to-podcasts/ Mon, 06 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/an-introduction-to-podcasts/ Explore the basics of launching a podcast and determine if creating a podcast is right for your agency. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/11/12/crafting-quality-content-throughout-its-lifecycle/ Tue, 12 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/11/12/crafting-quality-content-throughout-its-lifecycle/ Learn about the life cycle of content, how content comes across to the user, and how to develop a content management strategy. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/10/10/are-social-media-influencers-right-for-your-digital-media-campaign/ Thu, 10 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/10/10/are-social-media-influencers-right-for-your-digital-media-campaign/ Learn how to work with social media influencers to achieve your goals, while accounting for different budgets. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/hurricane-helene-guidance-for-us-government/ Thu, 26 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/hurricane-helene-guidance-for-us-government/ Addressing web and digital communications related to Hurricane Helene /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/04/09/celebrating-the-work-of-public-servants/ Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/04/09/celebrating-the-work-of-public-servants/ Performance.gov invites you to participate in their #GovPossible campaign to celebrate Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW)! Recognize the invaluable efforts of government employees who ensure that the everyday needs of Americans are met. Access a range of tools and resources to help you join the #GovPossible campaign and show your support. The #GovPossible toolkit makes it easy for you to participate in this important (and fun!) campaign. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/prepare-recovery-respond-social-media-cyber-vandalism-toolkit/ Tue, 20 Feb 2024 17:50:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/prepare-recovery-respond-social-media-cyber-vandalism-toolkit/ Cyber-vandalism presents a serious challenge to online-based communication tools. This resource provides information for agency practitioners to prepare for, recover from, and respond to cyber-vandalism. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/02/06/getting-the-word-out-about-voter-registration-votegovs-first-social-media-takeover-with-usagov/ Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2024/02/06/getting-the-word-out-about-voter-registration-votegovs-first-social-media-takeover-with-usagov/ Last fall, vote.gov and the USAGov program partnered for their first-ever social media takeover on National Voter Registration Day. The campaign, which encouraged the public to register to vote, reached 36,000 people across USAGov’s platforms and generated over 2,000 engagements. The partnership raised awareness for vote.gov, boosted vote.gov’s website traffic, and laid the groundwork for the future collaborations and resource-sharing between the two entities. This collaboration between vote.gov and USAGov offers a model for social media takeovers and partnerships between federal agencies and teams. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/an-introduction-to-working-with-social-media-influencers/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 13:12:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/an-introduction-to-working-with-social-media-influencers/ Learn how to partner with social media influencers and design, implement, and measure an influencer program. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/09/28/kids-online-health-and-safety/ Thu, 28 Sep 2023 15:38:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/09/28/kids-online-health-and-safety/ As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Task Force on Kids Online Health & Safety, NTIA and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are working with other agencies to advance the health, safety and privacy of minors online by identifying current and emerging risks, potential benefits, and efforts to mitigate harms. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/09/22/why-the-american-people-deserve-a-digital-government/ Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:26:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/09/22/why-the-american-people-deserve-a-digital-government/ OMB recently released new policy guidance for government that includes a variety of actions and standards to help federal agencies design, develop, and deliver modern websites and digital services. Memo M-23-22, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience, will make it seamless for the public to obtain government information and services online, and help agencies fully implement the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (21st Century IDEA). /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/04/20/the-art-of-storytelling-in-a-hybrid-world/ Thu, 20 Apr 2023 09:52:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/04/20/the-art-of-storytelling-in-a-hybrid-world/ Combined with technology and audience awareness, our increasingly digital, hybrid world can still leverage that in-person charm through the art of storytelling. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/03/07/a-happy-compromise-between-people-first-and-plain-language/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 12:31:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/03/07/a-happy-compromise-between-people-first-and-plain-language/ Find out how the National Institute of Corrections is using people-first plain language in its communications. See what words and phrases they’re changing. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/02/21/three-tips-for-using-facebook-and-instagram-stories/ Tue, 21 Feb 2023 10:57:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/02/21/three-tips-for-using-facebook-and-instagram-stories/ At USA.gov and USAGov en Español, we’re always looking for better ways to connect people to government information through social media. Using stories has helped us increase our engagement rate and our number of followers as we deliver helpful information to people. Stories may be a good addition to your agency’s social media strategy, too. These three tips can help you get started. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/02/06/govlove-2023/ Mon, 06 Feb 2023 15:56:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/02/06/govlove-2023/ We’re spreading the #GovLove with Performance.gov the week of February 13th to celebrate public servants like you! Prepare your hearts to be warmed. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/introduction-to-qr-codes/ Thu, 02 Feb 2023 18:56:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/introduction-to-qr-codes/ What is a QR code and how can you create one? What are some alternatives to using QR codes? This introductory resource will help you explore your options. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/10/18/6-important-factors-to-consider-for-digital-advertising-in-government/ Tue, 18 Oct 2022 12:38:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/10/18/6-important-factors-to-consider-for-digital-advertising-in-government/ The Federal Communicators Network community shares how agencies can approach digital advertising. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/10/14/medicare-open-enrollment-period-outreach-media-materials/ Fri, 14 Oct 2022 11:04:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/10/14/medicare-open-enrollment-period-outreach-media-materials/ Medicare Open Enrollment kicks off this Saturday, October 15 and runs through December 7. Join the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on social media to help spread the word! For suggested posts and shareable images, use their partner social media toolkit – available in both English and Spanish. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #MedicareOE to engage with the conversation online. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/08/15/u-s-department-of-defense-dod-releases-first-departmentwide-social-media-policy/ Mon, 15 Aug 2022 11:20:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/08/15/u-s-department-of-defense-dod-releases-first-departmentwide-social-media-policy/ The DOD released a policy that for the first time spells out, from the highest levels of the defense community, how DOD military and civilian personnel should use official social media accounts to best advance the mission of the U.S. military and further instill trust in the credibility of the DOD. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/01/24/webinar-recap-how-to-best-connect-with-your-spanish-speaking-audience-during-an-emergency/ Mon, 24 Jan 2022 10:44:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/01/24/webinar-recap-how-to-best-connect-with-your-spanish-speaking-audience-during-an-emergency/ In this panel discussion, experts from different agencies shared how they’ve used social media to reach Hispanic audiences during emergencies and the COVID-19 pandemic. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/11/17/three-ways-usagov-outreach-can-help-with-your-agencys-next-campaign/ Wed, 17 Nov 2021 16:56:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/11/17/three-ways-usagov-outreach-can-help-with-your-agencys-next-campaign/ /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/08/18/key-insights-from-the-white-house-director-of-digital-strategy-robert-flaherty/ Wed, 18 Aug 2021 16:06:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/08/18/key-insights-from-the-white-house-director-of-digital-strategy-robert-flaherty/ This article highlights unique tips related to digital content, audience reach, video posting, and strategic communication, that were shared by Rob Flaherty, the Director of Digital Strategy at the White House, during the Digital.gov event, Digital Strategy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/06/08/deep-fakes-and-social-media-a-qa-with-alex-cohen/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 11:21:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/06/08/deep-fakes-and-social-media-a-qa-with-alex-cohen/ The questions in this post were curated from attendees of the Deep Fakes and Social Media Webinar, hosted by the SocialGov Community of Practice and Digital.gov on May 18, 2021. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/04/07/using-chatbots-to-improve-customer-experience/ Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:33:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/04/07/using-chatbots-to-improve-customer-experience/ Three federal teams showcase their success using chatbots to improve customer satisfaction, increase availability, and empower their users to accomplish tasks faster. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/02/26/five-insider-secrets-to-engaging-emails/ Fri, 26 Feb 2021 10:39:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/02/26/five-insider-secrets-to-engaging-emails/ Engaging readers who receive hundreds of emails a day is not easy, but it starts with the most critical starting point—empathy for their time. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/communicators/ Wed, 24 Feb 2021 18:49:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/communicators/ Improve written and verbal communication to make government more effective. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2020/07/22/whens-the-best-time-to-tweet/ Wed, 22 Jul 2020 07:55:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2020/07/22/whens-the-best-time-to-tweet/ /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/social-media/ Thu, 12 Dec 2019 19:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/social-media/ Improve social media outreach and performance. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/web-content-managers/ Thu, 21 Nov 2013 02:31:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/web-content-managers/ Create a better online experience for the public alongside government web content managers. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/services/service_dotgov/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/services/service_dotgov/ We make it easy to register and manage a .gov domain for US-based government organizations. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2024/03/13/spring-2024-community-summit/ Wed, 13 Mar 2024 10:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2024/03/13/spring-2024-community-summit/ Digital service experts across the federal government will share case studies and best practices on delivering a digital-first public experience. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/10/14/how-to-best-connect-with-your-spanish-speaking-audience-during-an-emergency/ Thu, 14 Oct 2021 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/10/14/how-to-best-connect-with-your-spanish-speaking-audience-during-an-emergency/ The Multilingual Community of Practice is hosting a panel to share some successful social media strategies that you can use to connect with your Spanish-speaking audience during emergencies. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/09/21/2021-federal-plain-language-summit/ Tue, 21 Sep 2021 10:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/09/21/2021-federal-plain-language-summit/ On 9/21/21, PLAIN’s Fourth Federal PL Summit showcases federal employees’ plain language projects. Topics include COVID-19 agency responses, accessibility, user experience, and career enhancement. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/08/25/socialgov-summer-sessions-2021/ Wed, 25 Aug 2021 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/08/25/socialgov-summer-sessions-2021/ If you’re a federal employee, join us to learn about both intellectual property (8/25) and rules of conduct (8/26) in your agency’s social media. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/06/29/digital-strategy-at-1600-pennsylvania-avenue-qa-with-rob-flaherty-white-house-director-of-digital-strategy/ Tue, 29 Jun 2021 11:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/06/29/digital-strategy-at-1600-pennsylvania-avenue-qa-with-rob-flaherty-white-house-director-of-digital-strategy/ Join us for a conversation with Robert Flaherty, a digital native leading digital strategy at the White House. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/05/18/deep-fakes-and-social-media/ Tue, 18 May 2021 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/05/18/deep-fakes-and-social-media/ Deep fakes are an emerging threat that can disrupt agencies’ communication efforts and federal agencies should be prepared. Learn about deep fakes on social media, and how federal agencies can plan to combat a deep fake if they are targeted. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/04/28/social-media-spring-session-2021/ Wed, 28 Apr 2021 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2021/04/28/social-media-spring-session-2021/ Join the SocialGov Community of Practice for the latest updates on social media topics including advertising campaigns, content archiving, and podcasting. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/12/07/federal-social-week-2020/ Mon, 07 Dec 2020 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/12/07/federal-social-week-2020/ 2020 has been an unprecedented year for challenges and opportunities in social media. SocialGov’s Federal Social Media Week 2020 will bring you some interesting perspectives on how to keep social media moving and successful for 2021. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/06/23/air-force-cool-18f-partnership-flight/ Tue, 23 Jun 2020 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/06/23/air-force-cool-18f-partnership-flight/ Highlights from the Air Force Materiel Command & 18F partnership and the importance of organizational structure, roles of the core team, and user outreach for military and government DevOps. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/06/11/how-usagov-en-espaol-uses-quantitative/ Thu, 11 Jun 2020 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/06/11/how-usagov-en-espaol-uses-quantitative/ In this workshop, we will show how USAGov en Español collects and analyzes data from across several social media channels and the USAGov Contact Center to design and improve content and outreach strategies. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/04/29/socialgov-virtual-spring-session/ Wed, 29 Apr 2020 12:30:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/04/29/socialgov-virtual-spring-session/ Join SocialGov, the federal government’s social media community of practice, for our virtual Spring Session! /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/02/13/reaching-americas-veterans-in-digital-space/ Thu, 13 Feb 2020 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/02/13/reaching-americas-veterans-in-digital-space/ In this discussion, we’ll hear from the digital experts at the Department of Veterans Affairs on their successful strategies for reaching America’s veterans through digital platforms. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/01/14/socialgov-winter-meeting/ Tue, 14 Jan 2020 08:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2020/01/14/socialgov-winter-meeting/ Join us for talks by colleagues from NIST, IRS, USPTO, PlainLanguage.gov, and DC HSEMA who will speak on the latest social media topics and an opportunity to do some in-person networking. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/11/19/socialgov-talk-reaching-small-businesses-in-digital-environment/ Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/11/19/socialgov-talk-reaching-small-businesses-in-digital-environment/ In this webinar, the social media experts from the U.S. Small Business Administration discussed how they find and communicate with small businesses on their social media platforms. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/10/17/socialgov-fall-meeting-podcasting/ Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:30:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/10/17/socialgov-fall-meeting-podcasting/ Join the minds behind four top federal podcasts to learn how to create, produce, and promote professional podcasts that engage with audiences. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/09/26/socialgov-talks-leveraging-pop-culture-with-paul-lester-doe/ Thu, 26 Sep 2019 15:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/09/26/socialgov-talks-leveraging-pop-culture-with-paul-lester-doe/ Learn from a social media expert at Department of Energy how to use pop culture references as a jumping off point to talk about your agency’s work. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/08/21/socialgov-talks-tips-for-linkedin-content-strategy-with-matt-ross/ Wed, 21 Aug 2019 15:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/08/21/socialgov-talks-tips-for-linkedin-content-strategy-with-matt-ross/ Matt Ross, of LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Government & Advocacy team, will share tips and best practices on how to improve your agency’s use of content to maximize engagement with your core audience. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/05/21/2019-virtual-student-federal-service-vsfs-info-session/ Tue, 21 May 2019 13:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2019/05/21/2019-virtual-student-federal-service-vsfs-info-session/ An overview of how your agency can participate in this year’s VSFS program. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/12/17/emerging-technology-for-government-services-meeting/ Mon, 17 Dec 2018 10:30:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/12/17/emerging-technology-for-government-services-meeting/ This is an opportunity to discuss what agencies need to know about current issues in emerging technologies for IT modernization and form consensus on inter-agency collaboration and resource development, and shape initiatives that empower teams across government. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2018/12/10/us-digital-service-instagram/ Mon, 10 Dec 2018 09:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2018/12/10/us-digital-service-instagram/ /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2018/04/02/marketing-government-through-agency-partnerships/ Mon, 02 Apr 2018 12:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2018/04/02/marketing-government-through-agency-partnerships/ The Outreach and Marketing team from USAGov helps agencies amplify their key messages through a variety of channels. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/02/14/us-digital-registry-open-office-hours-feb2018/ Wed, 14 Feb 2018 10:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/02/14/us-digital-registry-open-office-hours-feb2018/ Virtual open office hours to answer your questions about the U.S. Digital Registry. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/01/10/us-digital-registry-open-office-hours/ Wed, 10 Jan 2018 10:00:00 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/01/10/us-digital-registry-open-office-hours/ Virtual open office hours to answer your questions about the U.S. Digital Registry /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2017/10/24/connect-with-your-spanishlanguage-audience-on-social-media/ Tue, 24 Oct 2017 14:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2017/10/24/connect-with-your-spanishlanguage-audience-on-social-media/ This event will provide concrete tips and examples of how to reach more Spanish speakers needing and looking for government information through social media /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/09/27/data-briefing-how-build-a-chatbot-in-a-weekend/ Wed, 27 Sep 2017 15:40:00 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/09/27/data-briefing-how-build-a-chatbot-in-a-weekend/ As chatbots have become more popular, some online sites will let you create a chatbot with little or no programming. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/08/31/hiv-govs-6-ways-to-stay-social-media-savvy/ Thu, 31 Aug 2017 02:49:14 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/08/31/hiv-govs-6-ways-to-stay-social-media-savvy/ This post was originally published on the HIV.gov blog. Editor’s Note: At HIV.gov, our team calls include a weekly update on digital trends. These updates allow us to stay current and inform our work. We recently asked HIV.gov’s former digital strategist to suggest ways our HIV partners can stay up to date with social media trends. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/08/07/by-the-numbers-why-video-is-effective/ Mon, 07 Aug 2017 01:54:45 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/08/07/by-the-numbers-why-video-is-effective/ At HIV.gov, we’re often asked if videos are effective tools for communicating HIV prevention and treatment information. Our experience, the work of our partners, and current research continue to support the use of video for informing and empowering individuals. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/07/05/making-world-war-i-relevant-today-are-wwi-propaganda-posters-the-original-meme/ Wed, 05 Jul 2017 12:36:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/07/05/making-world-war-i-relevant-today-are-wwi-propaganda-posters-the-original-meme/ Merriam-Webster officially defines a meme as “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” But these days, most of us think of memes as those viral posts online that convey a message using a photo with text. They range from funny to serious to offensive, and everything in /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/06/22/advice-from-digital-thought-leaders/ Thu, 22 Jun 2017 15:31:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/06/22/advice-from-digital-thought-leaders/ Many know that digital tools have become indispensable for connecting with many audiences—but we also know that what’s available in the digital realm is always changing. So how do you know what tools are best for your purpose? And how do you plan for your organization’s digital future when the pace of change is so /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/06/21/the-data-briefing-the-arrival-of-generation-z-into-the-federal-government-and-generation-a/ Wed, 21 Jun 2017 14:58:31 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/06/21/the-data-briefing-the-arrival-of-generation-z-into-the-federal-government-and-generation-a/ In the last national election, the earliest born members of Generation Z voted for the first time. In 2019, the American workforce will see the influx of tens of millions of Gen Zers who, according to some researchers, will be a stark contrast to the Millennials that will make the largest part of the 2020 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/05/22/how-facebook-live-increased-reach-and-engagement-of-scientific-lectures-at-nih/ Mon, 22 May 2017 13:00:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/05/22/how-facebook-live-increased-reach-and-engagement-of-scientific-lectures-at-nih/ Helping patients manage chronic pain has become an increasing challenge for health care providers, particularly in the face of an ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States. In response, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made funding research on integrative health approaches to pain /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/05/10/the-data-briefing-how-to-best-prepare-federal-government-datasets-for-chatbots/ Wed, 10 May 2017 11:00:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/05/10/the-data-briefing-how-to-best-prepare-federal-government-datasets-for-chatbots/ Forbes magazine recently ran an article showcasing six handy mobile apps that were built using federal government open data. The apps range from the Alternative Fueling Station Locator to ZocDoc (a doctor locator). What I especially like about the Forbes article is that the author describes the federal government data sets behind each app. There /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/05/01/build-your-audience-by-hosting-a-twitter-chat/ Mon, 01 May 2017 15:00:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/05/01/build-your-audience-by-hosting-a-twitter-chat/ Twitter is more than just a platform for sharing news and updates: it can be a tool for directly communicating with your community and understanding what is important to them. One way you can connect with your Twitter audience is by hosting a Twitter Chat. They can be a good way to discuss key topics, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/04/24/federal-pilot-to-integrate-public-services-into-intelligent-personal-assistants/ Mon, 24 Apr 2017 11:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/04/24/federal-pilot-to-integrate-public-services-into-intelligent-personal-assistants/ The demand for more automated, self-service access to United States public services, when and where citizens need them, grows each day—and so do advances in the consumer technologies like Intelligent Personal Assistants designed to meet those challenges. The U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/04/14/steps-towards-seo-meta-descriptions-on-medlineplus/ Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:00:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/04/14/steps-towards-seo-meta-descriptions-on-medlineplus/ MedlinePlus is a consumer health website produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), available in both English and Spanish. As part of our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, we recently added meta descriptions to our health topic pages. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/03/09/how-to-tell-the-world-war-i-story-make-it-personal/ Thu, 09 Mar 2017 02:00:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/03/09/how-to-tell-the-world-war-i-story-make-it-personal/ We naturally gravitate towards story-telling. It’s part of our human nature that began thousands of years ago, well before the written word. We want to pass down our history and cultures, and we do this by telling stories because they resonate with us. Stories tap into our emotions. They make us feel. They move us /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/03/06/becoming-an-influencer-with-your-audience-quality-vs-quantity-of-content/ Mon, 06 Mar 2017 14:30:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/03/06/becoming-an-influencer-with-your-audience-quality-vs-quantity-of-content/ Regardless of the platform, industry or niche, you became a social media influencer in one of two ways: adopting early, or promoting great content. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/01/11/digitalgov-university-in-review-2016-training-trends/ Wed, 11 Jan 2017 12:00:02 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2017/01/11/digitalgov-university-in-review-2016-training-trends/ Thanks to your participation, DigitalGov University (DGU), the events platform for DigitalGov, hosted over 90 events with 6,648 attendees from over 100 agencies across federal, tribal, state, and local governments. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/12/05/in-a-marketing-minute-connecting-teams-promotions-and-ideas/ Mon, 05 Dec 2016 10:00:57 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/12/05/in-a-marketing-minute-connecting-teams-promotions-and-ideas/ Every first week of every month, USAGov’s marketing team sends an office-wide email newsletter to give an update on past and current marketing efforts and campaigns. It’s how we try to help keep the rest of the office in the know. The monthly newsletter can spur a content idea, a future marketing endeavor, and act /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/25/understanding-twitter-quality-filters-for-content-strategy/ Fri, 25 Nov 2016 14:00:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/25/understanding-twitter-quality-filters-for-content-strategy/ In a move to win back users and improve the company’s image, Twitter introduced quality filters in August. They followed this move in November with an option to mute certain words. These changes will have larger ramifications for federal agencies, who will need to focus on quality of content in order to retain their audience /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/17/webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success/ Thu, 17 Nov 2016 14:00:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/17/webinar-recap-social-media-plus-stakeholder-engagement-equals-outreach-success/ Summary: How to leverage your resources to reach Spanish-dominant Hispanics online. A recent DigitalGov University (DGU) webinar provided an introduction to the intersection of two teams with different audiences reaching consensus on goals to maximize insight and outreach effectiveness. Social Media Outreach Goals What does social media outreach success look like? Success is when agencies /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/17/are-chatbots-the-next-mhealth-frontier/ Thu, 17 Nov 2016 10:00:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/17/are-chatbots-the-next-mhealth-frontier/ In April, Facebook made it possible for organizations to use chatbots to send and receive messages from users of Facebook Messenger. That’s a big deal. Facebook Messenger is now used by 900 million people every month. As the name implies, it’s a messaging platform that people use to send short messages to each other through /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/08/why-world-war-i-matters-for-your-agency/ Tue, 08 Nov 2016 11:00:32 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/08/why-world-war-i-matters-for-your-agency/ I recently asked some friends—a group of intelligent, successful individuals—what they knew about World War I. The responses I received included, “Ummm…..it was in the 1910s?” or “Started in Europe when the archduke was killed?” Beyond this, it’s mostly blank stares and shoulder shrugs. People who consider themselves history geeks might mention President Woodrow Wilson’s /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/02/the-digital-transition-how-the-presidential-transition-works-in-the-social-media-age/ Wed, 02 Nov 2016 12:00:25 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/02/the-digital-transition-how-the-presidential-transition-works-in-the-social-media-age/ Take a look at how we plan to preserve and pass on the digital history of the Obama administration. President Obama is the first “social media president”: the first to have @POTUS on Twitter, the first to go live on Facebook from the Oval Office, the first to answer questions from citizens on YouTube. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/01/trends-on-tuesdays-mobile-phone-camera-upgrades-offer-interesting-opportunities-for-government-agencies/ Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:00:43 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/11/01/trends-on-tuesdays-mobile-phone-camera-upgrades-offer-interesting-opportunities-for-government-agencies/ Professional photographer and early “iPhonography” pioneer, Chase Jarvis coined the phrase, “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” The recent jumps in mobile phone photo technology presents interesting opportunities for government agencies to consider as mobile phone cameras are starting to rival and surpass professional gear. When Google and Apple both announced their /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/28/social-media-data-deep-dive-turning-findings-into-action/ Fri, 28 Oct 2016 11:00:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/28/social-media-data-deep-dive-turning-findings-into-action/ GobiernoUSA, just like USA.gov, is part of a unique effort with a large mission—to guide people to the government information and services they seek. We cover a lot of topics in Spanish via our website, social media platforms, email sends, and contact center. One of the communication channels we focus a lot of attention on /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/27/9-reasons-your-infographics-might-be-too-big/ Thu, 27 Oct 2016 12:00:27 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/27/9-reasons-your-infographics-might-be-too-big/ Infographics are a useful tool for communicators to share complex data and information in a quick, easy-to-read format. Infographics can be beautifully designed works of art, pulling in a reader through storytelling and visual entertainment. And like art, infographics can be large, epic works, or small treasures. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/26/the-data-briefing-help-predict-the-future-of-federal-government-data/ Wed, 26 Oct 2016 13:00:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/26/the-data-briefing-help-predict-the-future-of-federal-government-data/ In December, I plan to write two postings detailing a scenario analysis for the next ten years of the Federal government’s data technologies. Governments are on the cusp of amazing technological advances propelled by artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies, and the Internet of Things. Also, governments will face new challenges such as the recent global cyber /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/26/gsa-launches-new-ai-virtual-reality-and-authentication-programs/ Wed, 26 Oct 2016 10:00:17 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/26/gsa-launches-new-ai-virtual-reality-and-authentication-programs/ Today we’re launching three new initiatives powered by GSA Digital Communities that leap federal agencies ahead on some of the most innovative new capabilities becoming available to our programs — Artificial Intelligence, Virtual/Augmented Reality, and the U.S. Digital Registry. These new Communities and portal are products of inter-agency collaboration and our shared commitment pushing the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/24/the-essentials-of-an-editorial-calendar/ Mon, 24 Oct 2016 10:00:37 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/10/24/the-essentials-of-an-editorial-calendar/ Anyone engaged in content marketing or content production probably owns a robust editorial calendar. A calendar that is quickly updated, helps keep deadlines and is flexible can serve as a helpful blueprint of your content activities for the year. At USAGov we cover a lot of topics and partner with many agencies. Having an editorial /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/28/the-new-vote-gov-leaner-faster-and-multi-lingual/ Wed, 28 Sep 2016 11:00:27 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/28/the-new-vote-gov-leaner-faster-and-multi-lingual/ One year ago this week, we launched vote.gov (also known as vote.usa.gov). It’s a concise and simple site with a single mission: direct citizens through the voter registration process as quickly as possible. It was created by a joint team of USA.gov staffers and Presidential Innovation Fellows, all of whom work within the General Services /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/27/webinar-recap-snaps-and-stripes-sharing-public-service-stories-with-snapchat/ Tue, 27 Sep 2016 11:00:50 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/27/webinar-recap-snaps-and-stripes-sharing-public-service-stories-with-snapchat/ Snapchat has quickly become an incredibly effective digital storytelling medium, and content creators across multiple government agencies have adopted it as an important part of their programs. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/26/recapping-content-marketing-trends-in-2016-how-have-we-stacked-up/ Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:00:24 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/26/recapping-content-marketing-trends-in-2016-how-have-we-stacked-up/ Earlier this year, it was predicted that content marketing would become even more important due to its ability to enhance not just visibility, but also increase engagement with customers—who could, in turn, become great promoters of your content. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/23/gettin-giphy-with-it-nara-shares-online-library-of-animated-gifs/ Fri, 23 Sep 2016 13:00:58 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/23/gettin-giphy-with-it-nara-shares-online-library-of-animated-gifs/ Have you looked in vain for quality animated GIFs from a reputable source? Come on over to the new Giphy channel from the National Archives and Records Administration. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/21/check-out-our-new-uscis-instagram-account/ Wed, 21 Sep 2016 13:00:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/21/check-out-our-new-uscis-instagram-account/ We are fortunate to meet amazing immigrants every day and share in their immigration journeys. Now we have a unique opportunity to share their stories with the world using Instagram. Today, we launched our Instagram account under the handle @USCIS and @USCIS_ES (Spanish version) and will share photos, graphics and videos to highlight our vital /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/12/the-content-corner-using-social-media-to-promote-enhance-preparedness-for-the-public-we-serve/ Mon, 12 Sep 2016 10:00:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/12/the-content-corner-using-social-media-to-promote-enhance-preparedness-for-the-public-we-serve/ September is National Preparedness Month. FEMA’s Ready.gov is encouraging everyone to plan how they would stay safe and communicate during disasters that can affect their communities. Additionally, Ready.gov is encouraging full participation in America’s PrepareAthon! and the national day of action, National PrepareAthon! Day, which culminates National Preparedness Month on September 30. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/08/26/rebooting-the-social-media-strategy-for-the-national-archives/ Fri, 26 Aug 2016 10:00:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/08/26/rebooting-the-social-media-strategy-for-the-national-archives/ In six years, you can get a lot done! If you are the International Space Station, you could have orbited the earth 35,040 times. If you are Apple, you could have released 10 new iPhones. If you are the National Archives, you have gone from zero social media accounts to over 100! It’s been six /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/08/08/the-content-corner-on-the-fly-content-strategies-round-offs-back-handsprings-and-double-twisting-layouts-not-required/ Mon, 08 Aug 2016 10:00:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/08/08/the-content-corner-on-the-fly-content-strategies-round-offs-back-handsprings-and-double-twisting-layouts-not-required/ As effective marketers and communicators, we are constantly seeking new and improved ways to reach our audience or customer base. These days, our “online lives” intersect with every activity we are involved in, so timeliness is essential. With fresh ideas and engaging, perhaps interactive, content, we can literally make a difference in the lives of our /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/28/widgets-mobile-apps-and-sms-essential-agency-tools-for-summer-heat-safety-and-hurricane-season/ Thu, 28 Jul 2016 10:00:26 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/28/widgets-mobile-apps-and-sms-essential-agency-tools-for-summer-heat-safety-and-hurricane-season/ A review of mobile apps, tools, and websites from federal agencies created to help the public with weather and emergency preparedness– and how organizations can help share that information. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/25/the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content/ Mon, 25 Jul 2016 15:00:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/25/the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content/ Content can be categorized in many ways. While breaking down your website analytics, pay a bit of extra attention to the difference between your short- and long-form content; you may find some interesting discoveries. Let’s first define the two terms: Short – Content that is generally created quickly, and consumed just as fast; e.g., tweets, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/12/catch-the-mall-with-pokemon-and-public-services/ Tue, 12 Jul 2016 15:58:53 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/12/catch-the-mall-with-pokemon-and-public-services/ “… I have never seen so many people of all ages walking around our civic spaces and small businesses interacting as I have this morning. Teens catching them. People catching them in line for coffee. Moms outsmarting their kids. Local youths teaching my toddler how to throw a ball. Full grown adults. Marines. Kids on /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/12/trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges/ Tue, 12 Jul 2016 10:00:37 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/12/trends-on-tuesday-adoption-for-pokemon-go-mobile-app-surges/ Augmented Reality games have existed for years, but have mostly failed to catch a mainstream audience; Pokémon Go just changed all that this weekend. The game that launched early this month has exploded in popularity and is close to surpassing Twitter in daily active /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/11/how-to-leverage-user-generated-content-to-resonate-with-your-audience/ Mon, 11 Jul 2016 13:30:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/11/how-to-leverage-user-generated-content-to-resonate-with-your-audience/ User-Generated Content (UGC) is a buzzword as of late, popularized recently due to the ever increasing demand for new content. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/08/introducing-the-digital-audiovideo-community-of-practice/ Fri, 08 Jul 2016 01:30:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/08/introducing-the-digital-audiovideo-community-of-practice/ Tech giants have changed the world of broadcast forever. In a little more than a year, video on Facebook went from being a seldomly seen media type on a user’s timeline to a strategic priority for Mark Zuckerberg. The platform now serves over 8 billion video views a day and Facebook continues to roll out improvements /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/07/connecting-with-the-public-safety-community-through-social-media/ Thu, 07 Jul 2016 11:00:26 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/07/connecting-with-the-public-safety-community-through-social-media/ Technology is bringing the world closer together – from connecting people across the country instantly by live video chats to tapping into the insights of data analytics. This is the type of power that FirstNet aims to bring to the public safety community through the nationwide public safety broadband network. FirstNet is working to ensure /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/30/twitters-evolution-and-what-it-means-for-your-government-account/ Thu, 30 Jun 2016 11:00:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/30/twitters-evolution-and-what-it-means-for-your-government-account/ Twitter has come a long way. In ten years of evolution, we’ve seen Twitter go from a simple text messaging service to a versatile platform, which in the words of Twitter, provides a “rich canvas for creative expression featuring photos, videos, hashtags, Vines, and more.” Now Twitter is offering additional enhancements to their service to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/20/how-to-make-your-facebook-content-pop-with-images/ Mon, 20 Jun 2016 03:02:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/20/how-to-make-your-facebook-content-pop-with-images/ Facebook is a highly visual medium. Studies show that Facebook posts featuring photos are the most noticed, liked, and shared. Posts featuring an image stand out in the news feeds of people who like your page. While a great image can cut through the clutter, you don’t need to fill your feed. Think “representative” and high-quality /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/13/the-great-pinterest-experiment-one-year-in/ Mon, 13 Jun 2016 14:00:49 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/13/the-great-pinterest-experiment-one-year-in/ Last summer, Kids.Gov revamped its presence on Pinterest in an attempt to find new ways to connect with its followers. The Marketing Team set out to learn more about our audiences and the kind of content they like. Despite being a difficult platform to navigate, we set lofty goals for ourselves and developed a timely /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/13/nih-image-gallery-data-call-success/ Mon, 13 Jun 2016 11:00:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/13/nih-image-gallery-data-call-success/ In early April, the National Institutes of Health put out a call for images highlighting NIH-funded scientific research. The image call was posted on the NIH image gallery website and advertised through the NIH Public Information Officers (PIO) Network. The NIH Image Gallery, which averages 6,000 views per day, features free-to-use images for the general /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/08/five-ways-that-video-will-continue-to-evolve-on-facebook/ Wed, 08 Jun 2016 02:43:06 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/06/08/five-ways-that-video-will-continue-to-evolve-on-facebook/ The medium is the message. Marshall McLuhan In a little over a year, Facebook video went from simply being one of the content types that could be shared to the user timeline to a 8B video views per day powerhouse that’s also a huge priority for Mark Zuckerberg. We’ve heard about the big numbers from digital native /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/05/23/the-content-corner-is-scheduling-social-media-posts-truly-social/ Mon, 23 May 2016 11:10:49 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/05/23/the-content-corner-is-scheduling-social-media-posts-truly-social/ Good communicators are always…well…evaluating the way they communicate. As we think of the “customer experience,” it is key to constantly consider your methods for engaging with your audience. Just as the platforms themselves continue to change to keep their audience, continuing to refine our ways of sending messages will assure that you don’t get left /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/05/13/fdas-the-real-cost-a-tumblr-success-story/ Fri, 13 May 2016 10:00:25 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/05/13/fdas-the-real-cost-a-tumblr-success-story/ FDA’s “The Real Cost” campaign aims to be edgy, just like its teen audience. Last month, the campaign won the 2016 Shorty Award for the Best Overall Tumblr Presence. “The Real Cost” educates youth ages 12 to 17 about the harmful effects of tobacco use. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/26/trends-on-tuesday-smartphone-ownership-reaching-saturation-fueling-media-consumption/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 11:25:35 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/26/trends-on-tuesday-smartphone-ownership-reaching-saturation-fueling-media-consumption/ ComScore released a report with a lot of great data about how mobile digital media usage continues to explode in 2016. It has 70 pages of charts and information to digest. Here are seven key mobile trends and takeaways: Smartphones are exponentially driving digital media usage. Digital media has tripled since 2013 and digital media /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/18/the-content-corner-branches-stick-to-the-vine/ Mon, 18 Apr 2016 11:00:03 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/18/the-content-corner-branches-stick-to-the-vine/ A branch that does not stick to its source of nutrition will wither away and die. Just ask anyone who has received a bouquet of beautiful flowers about how long they really last. In the same way, as communicators we must stay connected to our audience, or we risk the chance of fading away into /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/11/the-content-corner-will-you-read-this-entire-post/ Mon, 11 Apr 2016 11:00:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/11/the-content-corner-will-you-read-this-entire-post/ Deep down we’ve always known that people only read a small portion of any content shared online. In many ways that can’t be fixed but there are ways to help people read more or at least scan better. There was a book I loved as a child that featured the Sesame Street character Grover, titled /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/07/how-to-merge-two-facebook-pages/ Thu, 07 Apr 2016 10:00:26 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/07/how-to-merge-two-facebook-pages/ In the next couple of years as new social media platforms emerge and organizations open more accounts, when do you make the decision to shut an account down? When resources are limited, we must analyze the effectiveness of our social media programs and put our time and effort into the accounts that best serve our /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/01/why-we-launched-a-snapchat-account-and-how-well-measure-success/ Fri, 01 Apr 2016 11:00:14 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/01/why-we-launched-a-snapchat-account-and-how-well-measure-success/ Yesterday, we shared our Snapchat account with the public. After weeks of testing the tool to iron out kinks and determine how we’d make content accessible, we were excited to go public when the official government-friendly terms of service were signed. So now you may be asking, why /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/29/usagovs-step-by-step-guide-to-making-snapchat-stories-as-accessible-as-possible/ Tue, 29 Mar 2016 01:30:57 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/29/usagovs-step-by-step-guide-to-making-snapchat-stories-as-accessible-as-possible/ One of the biggest things we take into account whenever we consider launching on a new social platform is how we can make the information we share through that tool as accessible as possible. In its current form, Snapchat isn’t a highly accessible platform. This isn’t a problem that’s unique to Snapchat. Many emerging technologies /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/21/the-content-corner-social-media-metrics-and-the-challenge-of-effective-measurement/ Mon, 21 Mar 2016 11:18:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/21/the-content-corner-social-media-metrics-and-the-challenge-of-effective-measurement/ I’ve recently been required to focus more attention on social media from a federal agency standpoint and this has directly led to a greater consideration of content. One of my first steps was to begin sharing various forms of content and gauge the success of each type. In today’s post, I’ll share what I have /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/17/firstnet-launches-tumblr-seeking-stories-of-public-safety-broadband-use/ Thu, 17 Mar 2016 11:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/17/firstnet-launches-tumblr-seeking-stories-of-public-safety-broadband-use/ FirstNet is a relatively new “startup” federal government agency with the mission of building, operating and maintaining a broadband network for the millions of first responders in the 56 states, territories and Washington D.C. Given the nature of our mission, we are always looking for new avenues to connect with our nation’s courageous law enforcement, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/10/check-your-refund-status-and-pay-your-taxes-with-irs2go/ Thu, 10 Mar 2016 11:27:57 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/03/10/check-your-refund-status-and-pay-your-taxes-with-irs2go/ IRS2Go, offered for Amazon, Android and iOS, is one of the oldest and arguably most popular government apps. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/29/the-content-corner-facebook-expands-access-to-instant-articles/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 10:21:01 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/29/the-content-corner-facebook-expands-access-to-instant-articles/ One of my biggest content concerns is digital sharecropping. The recent announcement from Facebook that they will soon open their Instant Articles publishing capability to everyone was reason enough for me to revisit the topic. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/09/preliminary-results-from-usagovs-voter-registration-partnership-with-facebook/ Tue, 09 Feb 2016 10:00:37 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/09/preliminary-results-from-usagovs-voter-registration-partnership-with-facebook/ The first phase of our partnership with Facebook included Facebook “megaphones” being rolled out in a handful of states with rapidly approaching voter registration deadlines. Facebook’s megaphone is a featured box that is displayed at the top of all user’s News Feeds. (You may recall seeing these after certain disasters giving users the option to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/12/a-2016-look-ahead-whats-on-the-horizon-for-digital-government/ Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:58:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/12/a-2016-look-ahead-whats-on-the-horizon-for-digital-government/ With January, and the tearing off of the old calendar, comes the annual taking stock of where we’ve been in the last year and where we can go in the year ahead. So for this month’s editorial theme, we’re taking a closer look at what we think 2016 will bring for digital government—from mobile and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/11/the-content-corner-content-trends-for-2016/ Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:00:53 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/11/the-content-corner-content-trends-for-2016/ The beginning of a new year is generally a time where people on a personal and professional level look ahead and prognosticate. When it comes to almost any digital media, the one thing we can be certain of is that the pace will quicken, the offerings will expand, and something totally unexpected will jump out /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/08/somossocial-bilingual-twitter-chats-how-to-do-them-effectively/ Fri, 08 Jan 2016 10:00:00 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/08/somossocial-bilingual-twitter-chats-how-to-do-them-effectively/ There are 11.7 million + reasons to be on Twitter—the approximate number of Hispanics in the U.S. who are using the platform. And out of those 11.7 million, 43% tweet in English and in Spanish. Hispanics over index their counterparts when it comes to digital technologies and services, but how do you reach them and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/05/digging-into-the-data-of-our-customer-survey/ Tue, 05 Jan 2016 09:00:06 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/05/digging-into-the-data-of-our-customer-survey/ As a follow-up to the recent post about our annual customer satisfaction survey, we wanted to dig into the data and share some of the overall results to give you some more insights into how we’re using your feedback to improve our programs and services. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/31/digitalgovs-2015-year-in-review/ Thu, 31 Dec 2015 11:00:26 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/31/digitalgovs-2015-year-in-review/ As we look ahead to 2016, we wanted to take a minute to look at our most popular content in 2015 and reflect on our second year. This was a big year for DigitalGov as we saw our session traffic nearly double and our weekly and daily email subscribers increase by 15%. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/18/twitter-town-hall-tips-from-the-va/ Fri, 18 Dec 2015 10:00:05 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/18/twitter-town-hall-tips-from-the-va/ I work for the Department of Veterans Affairs in a national benefits office that oversees Veterans life Insurance programs. Our office has held a couple of successful Twitter Town Halls. They get a little smoother each time because we make a point of adjusting our style based on our lessons learned. After answering a question /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/18/once-upon-a-foia-request-how-you-can-open-public-records/ Fri, 18 Dec 2015 03:14:27 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/18/once-upon-a-foia-request-how-you-can-open-public-records/ Like many of you, we watched with great interest this week when a citizen submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asking them to release to the public Wu-Tang Clan’s album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. While official sources explain that the desired outcome is not possible /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/04/how-to-manage-multimedia-assets-what-peace-corps-is-doing-to-grow-its-photo-and-video-archives/ Fri, 04 Dec 2015 10:00:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/04/how-to-manage-multimedia-assets-what-peace-corps-is-doing-to-grow-its-photo-and-video-archives/ When Alex Snyder started working at Peace Corps a few years ago, he had an opportunity to explore a new platform for housing their digital assets. As a professional photographer himself, he saw the value in focusing on visual elements and making those more accessible. He focused on making the library about photos, video and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/03/fascinating-geysers-on-the-nps-yellowstone-geysers-app/ Thu, 03 Dec 2015 13:00:56 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/03/fascinating-geysers-on-the-nps-yellowstone-geysers-app/ Geological phenomena such as steaming mud craters, bubbling mud pools, hot springs and geysers are some of the exhilarating features of a geo-thermal wonderland. Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park falls into this category. If you are planning a visit to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/01/trends-on-tuesday-facebook-tv-and-how-to-reach-millennials-and-hispanics/ Tue, 01 Dec 2015 11:00:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/01/trends-on-tuesday-facebook-tv-and-how-to-reach-millennials-and-hispanics/ How do you capture millennial and Hispanic eyes? Through their hands. (More specifically: their mobile devices, and the social apps within!). AdAge recently analyzed a study from Nielsen’s Homescan panel which found that in a typical month, 12.2% of millennials can only be reached through TV (looking at the top 10 networks only) versus 14.2% /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/guidelines-for-secure-use-of-social-media/ Tue, 24 Nov 2015 09:50:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/guidelines-for-secure-use-of-social-media/ Guidelines and recommendations for using social media technologies in a manner that minimizes risks are analyzed and presented in this document. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/social-media-web-based-interactive-technologies-and-the-paperwork-reduction-act/ Mon, 23 Nov 2015 01:24:51 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/social-media-web-based-interactive-technologies-and-the-paperwork-reduction-act/ This memo clarifies when and how the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA) applies to federal agency use of social media and web-based interactive technologies. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/16/interested-in-using-the-new-poll-feature-on-twitter-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ Mon, 16 Nov 2015 11:10:58 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/16/interested-in-using-the-new-poll-feature-on-twitter-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ Twitter polls allow you to tweet out simple A or B style opinion polls. These polls can spark some great engagement, but you’ll want to keep a few things in mind before getting started: To stay within the social media /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/13/engage-the-community-with-visual-greatness/ Fri, 13 Nov 2015 10:00:28 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/13/engage-the-community-with-visual-greatness/ The power of using social media to find and create images can be overwhelming. What image do I post? How can I get more followers when I don’t have animals or pretty pictures to share? All good questions. The fact is, no matter what your agency does you can find a visual way to tell /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/10/creating-connection-with-instagram/ Tue, 10 Nov 2015 01:00:23 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/10/creating-connection-with-instagram/ I’ve been thinking a lot about Instagram lately. It’s pretty big, especially among the younger populations (AKA. Millennials). Actually, from what I can tell, it’s pretty big with lots of different age groups, genders, and ethnicities; and it’s growing every day. Full disclosure: I use Instagram in my personal /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/06/uscis-twitter-office-hours/ Fri, 06 Nov 2015 10:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/06/uscis-twitter-office-hours/ On September 1, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) hosted our first Twitter Office Hours, a Twitter chat for USCIS customers. The purpose of this pilot event was to offer our customers a different way to engage with us. We aimed to leverage Twitter to answer questions on our agency’s programs and policies and to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/05/somossocial-5-keys-for-government-to-reach-hispanics-through-social-media/ Thu, 05 Nov 2015 14:09:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/05/somossocial-5-keys-for-government-to-reach-hispanics-through-social-media/ Hispanics are one of fastest growing demographics in the U.S. But like any demographic, there are important nuances to consider when connecting with this audience. Insight into your audience’s motivations, behavior and preferences is key for anyone trying to engage with the public. We know every day that more and more Hispanics are on social /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/04/nih-image-gallery-now-on-flickr/ Wed, 04 Nov 2015 10:00:58 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/04/nih-image-gallery-now-on-flickr/ Looking for health or science related images? The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched the NIH Image Gallery on Flickr. The Image Gallery offers a wide variety of scientific, biomedical and disease related imagery as well as photos of NIH /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/29/empowering-the-voice-of-citizens-at-core-of-gsa-open-government/ Thu, 29 Oct 2015 10:19:09 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/29/empowering-the-voice-of-citizens-at-core-of-gsa-open-government/ We are proud to announce our commitment to the third U.S. National Action Plan for Open Government, released this week at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Mexico City, Mexico, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/26/nihdigital-summit-optimizing-digital-to-reach-patients-scientists-clinicians-and-the-public/ Mon, 26 Oct 2015 13:00:14 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/26/nihdigital-summit-optimizing-digital-to-reach-patients-scientists-clinicians-and-the-public/ On October 19th, NIH brought together nearly 1,500 digital and health experts in person and via webcast. The event featured two keynote speakers and panels that showcased the unique perspectives of patients and caregivers, health /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/26/the-content-corner-twitter-apple-news-and-the-importance-of-our-websites/ Mon, 26 Oct 2015 11:00:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/26/the-content-corner-twitter-apple-news-and-the-importance-of-our-websites/ First, McDonald’s started serving breakfast all day. Now, Twitter announced it is dropping its 140 character limit for tweets. Black is white, up is down. Or is it really that big a deal? Is Twitter just keeping itself relevant in the battle for your content? LinkedIn and Facebook were first with their strong push for organizations to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/21/the-white-house-back-to-the-future-day-and-the-road-to-innovation/ Wed, 21 Oct 2015 09:47:15 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/21/the-white-house-back-to-the-future-day-and-the-road-to-innovation/ The White House is marking Back to the Future Day with a series of conversations with innovators across the country. Follow along here. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/02/optimizing-social-at-peace-corps-not-a-zero-sum-game/ Fri, 02 Oct 2015 10:00:12 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/10/02/optimizing-social-at-peace-corps-not-a-zero-sum-game/ At the Peace Corps, we continually try to find new ways to test, measure and optimize our marketing and communications initiatives. Recently, we embarked on a project to design a framework to test and optimize content on the social media platforms we use to engage our stakeholders. This process required us to reboot our expectations in terms of /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/28/nasa-lunar-eclipse-a-supermoon-match-made-in-metrics-heaven/ Mon, 28 Sep 2015 03:20:04 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/28/nasa-lunar-eclipse-a-supermoon-match-made-in-metrics-heaven/ NASA’s reach over the last 24 hours eclipsed that of the regulars typically seen in government digital metrics. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/28/the-content-corner-defining-your-core/ Mon, 28 Sep 2015 01:30:53 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/28/the-content-corner-defining-your-core/ Through the course of this blog, I have frequently mentioned the need to feed the content beast and have discussed tactics such as the content pillar and various other aspects of developing a solid content strategy. Recent research from the Content Marketing Institute found the average business-to-business (B2B) company uses 13 content marketing tactics or /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/25/negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement/ Fri, 25 Sep 2015 10:00:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/25/negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement/ In our personal lives, most of us barely pay attention to Terms of Service (TOS) agreements. But in our professional lives, as federal employees, mindlessly clicking through a TOS is not an option. The DigitalGov article Getting to Yes: Working with Vendors to Secure Terms of Service and Federal Friendly Pricing explored the legal dilemmas /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/21/the-content-corner-harness-the-power-of-user-generated-content/ Mon, 21 Sep 2015 13:00:36 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/21/the-content-corner-harness-the-power-of-user-generated-content/ As of 2015, Millennials spent 30% of their time consuming user-generated content (UGC), and 54% of that group find UGC more trustworthy than content generated by a specific brand. This covers everything from user-generated reviews on Yelp! to short-form videos. Another benefit of UGC is that it helps crowdsource the burden of feeding the content /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/01/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-messaging-and-social-app-research-released/ Tue, 01 Sep 2015 10:00:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/01/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-messaging-and-social-app-research-released/ On DigitalGov, we frequently talk about some of the most popular app experiences, and research almost always shows that mobile messaging and social apps are the most frequently used. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/25/digitalgov-podcast-the-secrets-behind-cia-social-media/ Tue, 25 Aug 2015 10:00:43 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/25/digitalgov-podcast-the-secrets-behind-cia-social-media/ The Central Intelligence Agency launched their Twitter account with the second most retweeted inaugural post in the platform’s history. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/20/facts-on-the-federal-compatible-terms-of-service-agreement-for-yelp/ Thu, 20 Aug 2015 02:59:39 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/20/facts-on-the-federal-compatible-terms-of-service-agreement-for-yelp/ We’ve been excited to see the outpouring of interest this week in response to Yelp’s decision to amend their terms of service for official government use, a clear message that citizens want more ways to ensure their voices are heard by the public programs that serve them. Yelp is just one of dozens of platforms /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/19/fsa-using-a-data-driven-marketing-campaign-to-inform-your-audience/ Wed, 19 Aug 2015 10:00:04 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/19/fsa-using-a-data-driven-marketing-campaign-to-inform-your-audience/ For millions of Americans, federal student loans have made it possible to get a college education. For many, moving forward after college can become an overwhelming challenge. In 2014, the Department of Education had 41 million borrowers and a loan /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/18/trends-on-tuesday-the-rise-in-mobile-addicts/ Tue, 18 Aug 2015 11:10:23 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/18/trends-on-tuesday-the-rise-in-mobile-addicts/ Yahoo’s mobile analytics division, Flurry, released an interesting report, in July, comparing mobile usage among three distinct types of users around the world based on how frequently they launch mobile applications each day: Regular Users, Super Users and Mobile Addicts. According to Flurry, of /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/07/five-star-customer-experience-in-public-service-with-yelp/ Fri, 07 Aug 2015 13:16:06 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/07/five-star-customer-experience-in-public-service-with-yelp/ Adding customer satisfaction ratings and reviews to public services just got easier now that Yelp offers a terms of service for official government use. Yelp, a Web and mobile-based user review platform, hosts insights from “real people /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/30/community-rock-star-round-up/ Thu, 30 Jul 2015 10:00:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/30/community-rock-star-round-up/ Around this month’s Communities Theme, the DigitalGov team thought we’d round up your community rock stars. These are people in your communities who’ve gone above and beyond, who’ve contributed content, organized events, participated in developing toolkits and more. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/30/picking-up-the-slack-for-team-communication/ Thu, 30 Jul 2015 01:01:50 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/30/picking-up-the-slack-for-team-communication/ You have a question about a project. You ping a coworker, who texts another colleague, who emails a listserv and receives 3 responses. And the problem is: where will your supervisor find the answer next month, when someone else asks the same question? Corralling /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/17/is-it-time-to-try-medium-new-federal-friendly-terms-of-service/ Fri, 17 Jul 2015 11:10:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/17/is-it-time-to-try-medium-new-federal-friendly-terms-of-service/ What is Medium? Good question. Is it a publishing platform, a social network, a distribution channel, a 21st century version of the op-ed page, or something else? With a continuously evolving feature-set, Medium defies simple classification. Perhaps it is best to think about Medium in terms of what you can accomplish with it. With a /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/15/whats-in-a-name-communities-in-the-public-and-private-sectors/ Wed, 15 Jul 2015 10:00:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/15/whats-in-a-name-communities-in-the-public-and-private-sectors/ Many of you are part of a government community. We lead a few of them here, and new ones are forming all the time. In fact, as I was writing this article, I stumbled upon a community for government Drupal users. A co-worker recently asked me for research on communities because she is trying to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/08/customer-service-trends-an-update/ Wed, 08 Jul 2015 10:00:36 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/08/customer-service-trends-an-update/ Earlier this year, we published 15 Government Customer Service Trends for 2015. We’re halfway through the year now—how are these trends holding up? 1. Centralized Customer Offices A few agencies have created centralized customer offices, while others question the need for a single organization that focuses on the customer. As the public’s overall satisfaction with /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/07/wont-you-help-your-neighbor-communities-theme-month-on-digitalgov/ Tue, 07 Jul 2015 13:30:06 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/07/07/wont-you-help-your-neighbor-communities-theme-month-on-digitalgov/ It’s a beautiful day in the DigitalGov neighborhood, and we want you to be our neighbor: no red sweater required. The strength of digital government depends on robust collaboration across agencies, offices, and disciplines. The virtual federal neighborhood collaborates through numerous communities of practice, each of which promotes the open exchange of ideas and resources. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/30/celebrating-parks-creating-connections-nps-prepares-for-2016-centennial/ Tue, 30 Jun 2015 02:06:40 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/30/celebrating-parks-creating-connections-nps-prepares-for-2016-centennial/ Planning your next national park adventure (from the comfort of your couch) is easier than ever with a new website, Find Your Park.com. Launched on April 2nd, the mobile-friendly FindYourPark.com was designed and launched by the National Park Foundation (NPF), the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/29/creating-a-social-media-report-that-matters/ Mon, 29 Jun 2015 01:00:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/29/creating-a-social-media-report-that-matters/ As with any communications effort, the social media bottom line comes down to impact. Can you prove that the time, money and effort put into social media helped achieve your agency’s goals? In a world obsessed with big data, it’s tempting to track every detail simply because you can. With more data comes more confusion /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/26/tweets-earthquakes/ Fri, 26 Jun 2015 10:00:36 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/26/tweets-earthquakes/ When one thinks of social media, usually it is thought of as a tool to keep in touch with friends and family. Behind all the social networking lies vast amounts of data that can be used in a multitude of ways. This data is an opportunity for government agencies to improve the services they provide /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/25/engaging-audiences-through-quora/ Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:00:57 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/25/engaging-audiences-through-quora/ There’s no doubt that traditional social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have transformed how we communicate with stakeholders. Quora is another tool for agencies seeking to engage highly-educated thought leaders and influencers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers and journalists worldwide. The brainchild of two former Facebook employees with the backing of Wikipedia’s founder, Quora aims to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/19/real-internationalization-isnt-just-geographic-its-linguistic/ Fri, 19 Jun 2015 11:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/19/real-internationalization-isnt-just-geographic-its-linguistic/ Twenty years ago, the chances of watching an NBA game with commentary in a language other than English were small. Today, the NBA transmits games in 47 languages to 215 countries across the world. This is a perfect example of how organizations have evolved over time to meet the demands of their audiences. Evidence like /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/10/how-agencies-pin-down-their-audiences/ Wed, 10 Jun 2015 02:35:50 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/10/how-agencies-pin-down-their-audiences/ While Facebook and Twitter are the most popular social media platforms (according to some rankings), your agency can and should evaluate the benefits of platforms like Pinterest, which have seen major growth in users and activity. In the last six months of 2014, Pinterest increased its membership by 57%, while Facebook and Twitter only grew by /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/08/socialgov-round-up-2015/ Mon, 08 Jun 2015 11:30:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/08/socialgov-round-up-2015/ The SocialGov Community is coming up on three years of hard work and pushing the boundaries on using social tools across the federal government. I’d like to start this round up by taking a look at the event we hosted last year, State of the #SocialGov 2014: 2 Years of Smashing Silos + Elevating Citizen /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/05/monthly-theme-building-evaluating-and-improving-government-services-through-social-media/ Fri, 05 Jun 2015 14:56:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/05/monthly-theme-building-evaluating-and-improving-government-services-through-social-media/ While examples of government social media content may initially seem like mere fun, the potential of applied social data to build, evaluate and improve diverse citizen services is only increasing. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/28/ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation/ Thu, 28 May 2015 10:00:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/28/ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation/ Armed with a smartphone instead of a badge, ordinary Americans are helping law enforcement officers capture child predators. After exhausting all investigative leads, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents turn to the public for help to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/18/the-content-corner-connecting-with-customers-at-labor/ Mon, 18 May 2015 10:00:35 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/18/the-content-corner-connecting-with-customers-at-labor/ Here at DigitalGov, customer service is a focal theme during the month of May, and by some type of cosmic chance, I was invited to share my insights on content strategy and content creation at a Customer Service Community of Practice event at the Department of Labor. The event focused on topics I commonly discuss here /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/15/how-a-twitter-chat-about-healthy-aging-reached-more-than-4-million-people/ Fri, 15 May 2015 10:00:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/15/how-a-twitter-chat-about-healthy-aging-reached-more-than-4-million-people/ There are multiple health-related Twitter chats every day of the week. There are chats focused on specific conditions, on the healthcare system, on treatments, on products and on practices. If your agency or organization is interested in leading a conversation in this /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/07/increasing-engagement-and-website-visits-with-twitter-cards/ Thu, 07 May 2015 16:12:30 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/07/increasing-engagement-and-website-visits-with-twitter-cards/ May is #WorldTradeMonth and each year the U.S. Trade and Development Agency celebrates the month by highlighting the partnerships it has with 39 state and local organizations that promote U.S. exports in their home states through an initiative called #MakingGlobalLocal. What that means is that those 39 organizations with social media accounts, especially Twitter, will /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/04/usa-gov-in-beta-tell-us-what-you-think/ Mon, 04 May 2015 14:30:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/04/usa-gov-in-beta-tell-us-what-you-think/ Thirteen years in digital is an eon, and on the eve of its 13th birthday, we at USA.gov found ourselves reckoning with a mid-life crisis. In the thirteen years since Firstgov.gov was launched (and ten years for FirstGov en Español), the sheer volume and sophistication /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/01/creating-a-veterans-centered-experience-through-exploreva/ Fri, 01 May 2015 10:00:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/01/creating-a-veterans-centered-experience-through-exploreva/ Good customer service includes user-centered design. For one digital team at the Department of Veterans Affairs, creating a veterans-centered experience started with one word: explore. The ExploreVA website provides a single location for veterans and their families to research the benefits that they may be entitled to receive. Benefits include health care, education, employment, and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/27/the-content-corner-the-content-wars/ Mon, 27 Apr 2015 10:56:28 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/27/the-content-corner-the-content-wars/ One of the most interesting trends forming at the start of 2015 is the rise of new digital publishers. Online entities from Facebook to GE are continuing their strong forays into the world of content production. This shift, especially among social media platforms such as Facebook, Linked In and Snapchat, could significantly alter the digital /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/24/sharing-the-essentials-of-animated-gifs-for-public-services/ Fri, 24 Apr 2015 13:33:00 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/24/sharing-the-essentials-of-animated-gifs-for-public-services/ Animated gifs are increasingly found throughout the digital experience of today’s users. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/24/meeting-customer-needs-through-social-media/ Fri, 24 Apr 2015 12:03:35 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/24/meeting-customer-needs-through-social-media/ Social media tools can amplify your agency’s message, but they are also a meeting space for two-way conversations. They can be a key tool to resolve user issues and deliver excellent customer service. This is true for agencies in every corner of the government space. In honor of our monthly contact center theme, we reached /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/20/the-content-corner-finding-your-voice/ Mon, 20 Apr 2015 10:00:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/20/the-content-corner-finding-your-voice/ No, this is not another post about podcasting but about a different voice entirely. It is the words you use, the conversation that you are having with your users. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/14/trends-on-tuesday-10-tips-for-mobile-live-streaming/ Tue, 14 Apr 2015 11:10:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/14/trends-on-tuesday-10-tips-for-mobile-live-streaming/ Mobile video is starting to hit its second wave for both consumption and creation, and government agencies can prepare now to ride this new channel for mobile and social engagement. Fueled by mobile bandwidth and cellular stability steadily increasing and consumers’ comfort /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/14/social-sharing-buttons-location-location-location/ Tue, 14 Apr 2015 10:00:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/14/social-sharing-buttons-location-location-location/ DigitalGov has seen posts from members of the community who land on opposite sides regarding social sharing buttons. There are those who find social sharing buttons useful (When Sharing Buttons /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/09/multiple-languages-single-platforms-the-world-digital-library/ Thu, 09 Apr 2015 02:29:14 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/09/multiple-languages-single-platforms-the-world-digital-library/ Multilingual does not always mean multiple accounts or websites. Increasingly, multilingual content is delivered in an integrated way, with two (or more!) languages delivered on the same website, app, or social media platform. The World Digital Library (WDL) is one example of how multiple languages can be incorporated on single platforms. The WDL is a /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/07/why-your-social-traffic-looks-low-in-analytics-tools/ Tue, 07 Apr 2015 13:00:23 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/07/why-your-social-traffic-looks-low-in-analytics-tools/ Part of my job as an analyst on the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) team is to help agency users try to make sense of digital analytics data by using web analytics tools. I /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/06/the-content-corner-should-you-be-podcasting/ Mon, 06 Apr 2015 10:00:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/06/the-content-corner-should-you-be-podcasting/ Along a somewhat personal journey (that you have chosen to join) to better define the term content, I’ve stumbled upon the puzzle of podcasts. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/03/sharing-social-media-strategies-the-national-strategy-for-trusted-identities-in-cyberspace-program-office/ Fri, 03 Apr 2015 10:00:10 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/03/sharing-social-media-strategies-the-national-strategy-for-trusted-identities-in-cyberspace-program-office/ Creating a tweet, posting a photo, or updating a status may take mere seconds. However, a well-thought-out social media strategy is needed for long-term success. In fact, the recently released U.S. Public Participation Playbook mentions strategy in its very first play: clearly define and communicate your objectives. Knowing what you hope to accomplish and how /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/30/the-content-corner-making-those-connections/ Mon, 30 Mar 2015 10:00:27 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/30/the-content-corner-making-those-connections/ A (possibly infamous) blog post from last Friday and the discussion or debate that followed reminded me of several important points that we all may lose sight of during our hectic schedules. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/30/on-the-spot-must-have-ifttt-recipes-for-government/ Mon, 30 Mar 2015 03:48:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/30/on-the-spot-must-have-ifttt-recipes-for-government/ Ever since we announced IFTTT was available for federal use, dozens of ideas have been shared for how program managers can use the tool to increase their productivity. I asked some API enthusiasts in the SocialGov community which of their /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/18/improving-how-social-media-informs-leadership-and-public-initiatives/ Wed, 18 Mar 2015 11:10:01 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/18/improving-how-social-media-informs-leadership-and-public-initiatives/ Like private sector organizations, U.S. public sector organizations have experienced shifts in how they use both the Internet and social media to interact with the public. The mid-1990s onwards saw an increase in the number of websites helping individual members of the public learn more about various public sector organizations and initiatives directly from /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/10/busting-myths-and-building-partnerships-national-drug-facts-week/ Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:10:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/10/busting-myths-and-building-partnerships-national-drug-facts-week/ Myth-busting isn’t just for television. And through a multi-faceted, tech-savvy campaign based on strategic partnerships, one federal office has found a winning strategy for combating misinformation. National Drug Facts Week (NDFW) is a health awareness week for teenagers, with the goal of debunking /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/02/the-content-corner-catching-a-wave/ Mon, 02 Mar 2015 14:01:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/02/the-content-corner-catching-a-wave/ As we all continue to wrestle with the “content beast”, one effective method for generating ideas for content and fleshing out an editorial calendar is to look for trending events or even upcoming holidays. In the spirit of full disclosure, the idea behind this particular post was inspired by the back-to-back Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/23/hear-my-tweet-national-museum-of-american-historys-hearhistory-tweetup/ Mon, 23 Feb 2015 10:00:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/23/hear-my-tweet-national-museum-of-american-historys-hearhistory-tweetup/ DC was the Silicon Valley of the 1880’s. And Alexander Graham Bell? He was more than just a telephone man. His Volta Laboratory was the premier 19th century innovation center. The work of Bell and his contemporaries is the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/18/8-new-federal-friendly-apps-and-services/ Wed, 18 Feb 2015 01:10:43 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/18/8-new-federal-friendly-apps-and-services/ Tackling technology tasks just got easier. Recently, federal agencies negotiated eight new Terms of Service (TOS) Agreements for free apps and services. DigitalGov has an extensive list of federal-friendly TOS agreements for free products, and the list is updated as new TOS agreements are created. Cyfe Cyfe, a business dashboard app, helps users monitor diverse data /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/12/ifttt-combines-social-media-mobile-and-internet-of-things-for-government/ Thu, 12 Feb 2015 16:20:56 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/12/ifttt-combines-social-media-mobile-and-internet-of-things-for-government/ The newest addition to the federal government’s social media utility belt may also be one of its most powerful, as IFTTT (as in “If This Then That”) combines 166 channels like Twitter, Android and iOS Location and RSS into “recipes” that can integrate government social media, data, location-based services /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/06/getting-to-yes-working-with-vendors-to-secure-terms-of-service-and-federal-friendly-pricing/ Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:00:32 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/06/getting-to-yes-working-with-vendors-to-secure-terms-of-service-and-federal-friendly-pricing/ The federal government is one of the largest consumers of products and services in the United States. Yet, many agencies face tight budgets and firm guidelines that restrict the parameters under which agencies can use a product or service to complete projects. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/05/u-s-public-participation-playbook-open-for-coders-and-designers-on-github/ Thu, 05 Feb 2015 11:47:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/05/u-s-public-participation-playbook-open-for-coders-and-designers-on-github/ We released the United States Public Participation Playbook this week, a new open resource agencies can use to evaluate and build better programs that give a voice to the people they serve—and the response was fantastic. Public servants and citizens around the world have shared it, and already are contributing new ideas that build from /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/30/social-video-making-sense-of-the-facebook-and-youtube-platforms/ Fri, 30 Jan 2015 10:00:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/30/social-video-making-sense-of-the-facebook-and-youtube-platforms/ Around the time that Tim Fullerton of the Department of Interior delivered his webcast to DigitalGov audiences about publishing video content to Facebook, we at the Broadcasting Board of Governors were comparing the differences in user behavior on the Facebook and YouTube video platforms /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/28/6-digital-media-trends-for-2015-you-can-make-them-accessible/ Wed, 28 Jan 2015 02:30:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/28/6-digital-media-trends-for-2015-you-can-make-them-accessible/ Resolutions and predictions abound this time of year. If you’ve already lost the fight to finally give up sardine ice cream, you can always resolve to maintain or improve your digital media accessibility. Some people say that accessibility and Section 508 compliance squashes /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/27/new-inter-agency-social-media-cyber-vandalism-toolkit-launched/ Tue, 27 Jan 2015 13:19:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/27/new-inter-agency-social-media-cyber-vandalism-toolkit-launched/ A new toolkit developed by more than a dozen government managers and representatives from major social media platforms, will help agencies evaluate and improve security of their programs to ensure they are better prepared for emerging challenges. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/readiness-recovery-response-social-media-cyber-vandalism-toolkit/ Tue, 27 Jan 2015 01:09:20 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/readiness-recovery-response-social-media-cyber-vandalism-toolkit/ Cyber-vandalism presents a serious challenge to online-based communication tools. This document provides guidance and security practices to federal, state, and local government employees. Suggestions and resources prepare users to respond to cyber-hijacking. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/26/new-nhtsa-app-uses-yelp-api/ Mon, 26 Jan 2015 10:00:16 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/26/new-nhtsa-app-uses-yelp-api/ The U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently unveiled a new mobile app to help people who have been drinking get a safe ride home. The ‘SaferRide’ mobile app, gives holiday revelers an easy way to find a ride home when they’ve had too much to drink instead of getting /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/23/training-trends-in-2014/ Fri, 23 Jan 2015 10:00:50 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/23/training-trends-in-2014/ In recent years, DigitalGov University (DGU) has evolved from a prescriptive training program to a more agile program looking to federal government leaders like you to share the innovations, tools, resources, hurdles and case studies of how you work to meet the digital expectations of the 21st century citizen customer better. Whew. That’s a mouthful. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/22/saferride-app-could-save-your-life/ Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:00:03 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/22/saferride-app-could-save-your-life/ One death every 52 minutes. That’s how frequently someone died in crashes involving a drunk driver in the U.S. in 2013—10,076 deaths in total. While that number represents a 2.5% reduction in deaths from the previous year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is offering a new mobile app—called SaferRide—to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/05/great-customer-service-in-140-characters-askfafsa-twitter-chats/ Mon, 05 Jan 2015 10:00:25 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/05/great-customer-service-in-140-characters-askfafsa-twitter-chats/ As agencies strive for success in digital government, they often need to open their virtual doors and meet the public in new and evolving spaces. Federal Student Aid meets its audience in the 21st century public square at monthly #AskFAFSA sessions. During the live /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/02/social-media-and-accessibility-resources-to-know/ Fri, 02 Jan 2015 10:00:59 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/02/social-media-and-accessibility-resources-to-know/ When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, there was no Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Since then, the number of social media channels, and their use for communication among all demographics, has grown exponentially. Unfortunately, however, despite newer ways to reach individuals living with disabilities, many individuals in this community face challenges /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/31/countdown-to-2015-with-our-most-popular-articles-this-year/ Wed, 31 Dec 2014 14:45:22 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/31/countdown-to-2015-with-our-most-popular-articles-this-year/ As we round out 2014, we’re reflecting on the exciting year we’ve had at DigitalGov since we launched in February. Our mission is to share information and resources from agencies across the federal government that are working in the digital space, and highlight the services and communities that can help you meet your digital government /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/31/big-in-socialgov-in-2014-services-access-and-participation/ Wed, 31 Dec 2014 14:25:53 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/31/big-in-socialgov-in-2014-services-access-and-participation/ Social media for public service is a diverse field that uses platforms and data from both the private and public sectors to improve citizen services, make them easier to access and deliver them more cost effectively. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/18/10-years-of-digital-government-a-retrospective/ Thu, 18 Dec 2014 03:09:04 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/18/10-years-of-digital-government-a-retrospective/ In December of 2004, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the first Policies for Federal Public Websites. Over the past decade, we’ve seen technology completely transform how government delivers information and services to the public. On this 10-year anniversary, we’re taking a walk down memory lane to recap some of the pivotal moments /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/17/3rd-u-s-public-participation-playbook-draft-released-this-month/ Wed, 17 Dec 2014 17:19:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/17/3rd-u-s-public-participation-playbook-draft-released-this-month/ The new third draft of the U.S. Public Participation Playbook continues to incorporate changes proposed from more than 100 suggestions submitted via public comment aimed at measuring the performance and improving the development of government programs. It takes the 13 initial “plays” from rough brainstorming and collaborations to a more refined, action-focused presentation that will help contributors understand and identify opportunities /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/15/crowdsourced-digital-citizen-services-summit/ Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:00:57 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/15/crowdsourced-digital-citizen-services-summit/ In May 2015, we are hosting the second DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit. This round we are looking to you—federal innovators across government—to help build the agenda. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/12/going-behind-the-blog-with-the-law-library-of-congress/ Fri, 12 Dec 2014 11:35:14 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/12/going-behind-the-blog-with-the-law-library-of-congress/ Creative content can be found in all corners of the federal space. Recently, the Law Library of Congress blog, In Custodia Legis, and the United States Courts blog, The Third Branch News, were named to the ABA Journal “Blawg 100” out of 4,000 legal blogs eligible for selection. We wanted insight on their blogging success, so we spoke /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/08/2nd-u-s-public-participation-playbook-draft-responds-to-public-contributions/ Mon, 08 Dec 2014 06:14:07 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/08/2nd-u-s-public-participation-playbook-draft-responds-to-public-contributions/ The new second draft of the U.S. Public Participation Playbook incorporates changes that were proposed from nearly 100 suggestions submitted after the first week of public comment, with more improvements to come. We still need your contributions /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/05/promoting-womens-health-through-dynamic-multilingual-content/ Fri, 05 Dec 2014 10:00:45 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/05/promoting-womens-health-through-dynamic-multilingual-content/ Sonia stands at the pharmacy counter, flashing her most brilliant smile. Jorge, the handsome neighborhood pharmacist, dispenses his own easy smile as they chat. Sound like an ordinary soap opera? This telenovela is actually a tool to help Spanish-speaking women make smart medication decisions. The four /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/02/social-media-success/ Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:04:31 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/02/social-media-success/ When it comes to implementing a social media strategy, determining how to measure success can be challenging. Yes, knowing how many followers and likes you have is beneficial. However, to really get valuable results from the trove of social /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/25/help-shape-public-participation/ Tue, 25 Nov 2014 14:29:05 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/25/help-shape-public-participation/ Public participation—where citizens help shape and implement government programs—is a foundation of open, transparent, and engaging government services. From emergency management and regulatory development to science and education, better and more meaningful engagement with those /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/24/jumpstart-your-government-sponsored-initiative-in-a-tight-budget-climate-try-crowdfunding/ Mon, 24 Nov 2014 11:05:02 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/24/jumpstart-your-government-sponsored-initiative-in-a-tight-budget-climate-try-crowdfunding/ There are many ways to apply crowdfunding in the government space. This case study highlights the U.S. Department of State’s utilization of an online crowdfunding platform (CFP) to launch the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund 2.0 (AEIF 2.0). Through this fundraising platform, exchange program alumni were able to work on innovative solutions to the world’s toughest /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/24/placeholder-text-think-outside-the-box/ Mon, 24 Nov 2014 10:00:43 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/24/placeholder-text-think-outside-the-box/ The verdict is in. Placeholder text is harmful in search boxes. Searchers are on your site to complete a task. Having placeholder text inside a search box distracts from the task and it reduces the usability and accessibility of the search box. Placeholders look simple, but are in fact very tricky to use. When people /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/19/young-entrepreneurs-hang-out-with-government-virtually-and-in-spanish/ Wed, 19 Nov 2014 10:00:28 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/19/young-entrepreneurs-hang-out-with-government-virtually-and-in-spanish/ It’s a well-known fact that the Hispanic population is growing at a rapid pace, and among the areas seeing the most interest and growth is business. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), there are more than 3 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. today, a number that is growing at three times the national /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/05/rocking-the-vote-how-the-usa-gov-brand-leveraged-the-mid-term-elections/ Wed, 05 Nov 2014 11:22:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/05/rocking-the-vote-how-the-usa-gov-brand-leveraged-the-mid-term-elections/ You might have noticed a lot of people were talking about the elections yesterday, especially on social media. Election and voting hashtags were trending all day long as people around the country hit the polls to vote for senators, representatives, governors and more. And while plenty of people were really excited to simply let their /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/04/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-tokens-part-ii/ Tue, 04 Nov 2014 10:00:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/04/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-tokens-part-ii/ In the first part of A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Tokens, I explained why we built a social media-driven image search engine, and specifically how we used Elasticsearch to build its first iteration. In this week’s post, I’ll take a deep dive into how we worked to improve relevancy, recall, and the searcher’s experience /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/30/cyber-house-of-horrors/ Thu, 30 Oct 2014 04:29:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/30/cyber-house-of-horrors/ Ghosts. Ghouls. Zombies. Multi-stakeholder content audits. This Halloween there is no shortage of terrors lurking to keep federal Web managers up all night, and our work is largely done in one of the scariest domains of all: cyberspace. Every moment of every day, a vast system of computers and networks are actively working to support /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/28/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-tokens/ Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:15:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/28/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-tokens/ Increasingly, we’ve noticed that our agency customers are publishing their highest quality images on social media and within database-driven multimedia galleries on their websites. These sources are curated, contain metadata, and have both thumbnails and full-size images. That’s a big improvement in quality over the images embedded within HTML pages on agencies’ websites. After some /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/20/metrics-round-up/ Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:17:07 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/20/metrics-round-up/ We are all collecting a lot of performance data across our digital properties and DigitalGov University has hosted many events on the collection, reporting and strategizing around metrics. DigitalGov has shared many posts on these topics as well. So we thought it would be great to curate these events and posts for easy reference and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/14/recap-of-social-digital-search-webinar/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 11:17:31 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/14/recap-of-social-digital-search-webinar/ Content is no longer limited to .gov sites. As mentioned in a recent blog post, Sharing is Caring, Adding Social Media Accounts to Search, DigitalGov Search uses Flickr, Instagram, and YouTube to populate image and video search results. On September 30, 2014, I presented with Justin Herman from the Social Media Community of Practice about: What /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/06/trends-on-tuesday-are-qr-codes-still-relevant/ Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:55:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/06/trends-on-tuesday-are-qr-codes-still-relevant/ Recently, I was designing new outreach materials and needed a way to connect this offline collateral with my agency’s digital content. Using a QR (or Quick Response) code immediately came to mind, followed by the question, “Are QR codes still relevant?” Opinions differ on their utility and I couldn’t find any objective data on how /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/03/multimedia-storytelling-in-government-ghazni-towers-documentation-project/ Fri, 03 Oct 2014 12:40:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/03/multimedia-storytelling-in-government-ghazni-towers-documentation-project/ “Content is king” is a generally accepted truth for those of us who produce digital media. But once you have compelling content, how to best present it to your audience becomes the next challenge. In recent years, Web innovators started emphasizing the effectiveness of “digital storytelling,” or content focused on individual, human experiences using compelling /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/24/the-federal-register-improving-visitors-search-experience-on-agency-websites/ Wed, 24 Sep 2014 10:00:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/24/the-federal-register-improving-visitors-search-experience-on-agency-websites/ The Office of the Federal Register’s mission “informs citizens of their rights and obligations, documents the actions of Federal agencies, and provides a forum for public participation in the democratic process.” As the winner of the Bright Idea Award, FederalRegister.gov is clear and easy to use, but most citizens rarely frequent it. More frequently they /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/12/digitalgov-gov-six-months-later/ Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:00:02 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/12/digitalgov-gov-six-months-later/ Six months ago, we launched this DigitalGov.gov platform to support federal agencies in delivering 21st century digital services and information to the public. It seems a good time to share some of the thinking that went into the development of the platform, and what we’ve learned so far. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/10/stacking-up-the-benefits-of-openness/ Wed, 10 Sep 2014 11:49:04 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/10/stacking-up-the-benefits-of-openness/ Open government, open source, openness. These words are often used in talking about open data, but we sometimes forget that the root of all of this is an open community. Individuals working together to release government data and put it to use to help their neighbors and reach new personal goals. This sense of community /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/05/sharing-is-caring-adding-social-media-accounts-to-search/ Fri, 05 Sep 2014 10:00:36 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/05/sharing-is-caring-adding-social-media-accounts-to-search/ Content is no longer limited to your .gov website. Social media accounts also contain a treasure trove of information relevant to your site’s visitors. Keeping that in mind, DigitalGov Search has worked to bring all your content, wherever it is, to your search results. Finding /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/04/census-promotes-mobile-apps-front-and-center/ Thu, 04 Sep 2014 13:18:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/04/census-promotes-mobile-apps-front-and-center/ Those cutting edge folks over at Census have raised the bar again! Not only do they have three mobile apps that use their own APIs, but now everyone who visits Census.gov is presented with an /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/03/to-learn-about-reddit-listen-first/ Wed, 03 Sep 2014 11:30:41 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/03/to-learn-about-reddit-listen-first/ Reddit began in 2006 as an online bulletin board. Registered users post links to items on the Internet, start discussions and cast votes that control placement on the site. A simple structure and a live interview forum called AMA, (Ask Me Anything) helped make reddit a /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/29/help-opm-help-you/ Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:41:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/29/help-opm-help-you/ Here at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, we recently announced two exciting new government-wide working group teams with the mission of helping us use social media in ways we haven’t explored before. We’re hoping to recruit federal employees /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/26/help-the-public-find-your-information-wherever-and-however-youve-published-it/ Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:00:35 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/26/help-the-public-find-your-information-wherever-and-however-youve-published-it/ As traffic to desktop .gov websites declines, how we publish our content increasingly matters. We need to meet people where they are as they seek information on the Internet. To do so, we need to adjust to the new world of mobile applications, social media, and instant answers provided by search engines. Freeing Content from /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/19/white-house-socialgov-summit-aims-to-improve-open-data-innovation/ Tue, 19 Aug 2014 11:00:59 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/19/white-house-socialgov-summit-aims-to-improve-open-data-innovation/ More than 100 digital engagement and open data managers from across government met with leaders in the private sector startup community August 7 at the White House for a summit on integrating our digital services with public participation to create more /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/19/trends-on-tuesday-whats-currently-the-no-1-smartphone-in-the-u-s/ Tue, 19 Aug 2014 10:00:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/19/trends-on-tuesday-whats-currently-the-no-1-smartphone-in-the-u-s/ Do you ever find yourself conducting unofficial smartphone research? Ever since my agency decided to develop a mobile app, I know I do. Luckily, new data from ComScore on the U.S. smartphone subscriber market share can help eliminate the guesswork. Here are a few of the key trends ComScore found in the U.S. smartphone industry /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/11/the-power-of-email-marketing/ Mon, 11 Aug 2014 10:00:14 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/11/the-power-of-email-marketing/ If you aren’t currently including email marketing in your digital outreach efforts, you’re missing out. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/01/video-blog-alison-lemon-fda/ Fri, 01 Aug 2014 14:24:54 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/01/video-blog-alison-lemon-fda/ We wanted to learn a little more about the Office of Women’s Health at FDA, where Alison Lemon, the SocialGov Community Knowledge Manager, works. So we sat down with Alison and learned about the interesting social media approach her office has taken, some of the thinking behind their strategy and what she sees as the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/30/why-congressedits-matters-for-your-agency/ Wed, 30 Jul 2014 10:00:23 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/30/why-congressedits-matters-for-your-agency/ If you haven’t heard about @congressedits yet, it’s a Twitter bot that was recently created to tweet out every anonymous edit made to Wikipedia from Congressional IP addresses. So, anyone editing articles on Wikipedia without logging in, and doing this while on Congressional Internet access, will have those changes tweeted (like this). Some of these /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/25/5-key-points-about-government-branding-now/ Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:47:11 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/25/5-key-points-about-government-branding-now/ Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking (in my own capacity) before the Council for Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency Public Affairs Officers (CIGIE-PAO) task force about branding. The invitation came by way of a colleague I greatly respect. Bridget Serchak is currently Chief of Public Affairs for the Department of Defense Inspector General and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/17/plop-plop-fizz-fizz-oh-what-a-relief-social-media-is/ Thu, 17 Jul 2014 13:00:36 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/17/plop-plop-fizz-fizz-oh-what-a-relief-social-media-is/ We often think of social media as a way to expand our audience, but some public health departments are using it as a new tool for tracking outbreaks of salmonella, e. coli, and other foodborne illnesses. It’s a familiar story: A nice meal out results in days of gastrointestinal discomfort when you realize only too /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/improving-the-accessibility-of-social-media-in-government/ Wed, 16 Jul 2014 02:50:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/improving-the-accessibility-of-social-media-in-government/ Government agencies are increasingly using social media to engage with citizens, share information and deliver services more quickly and effectively than ever before. But as social content, data and platforms become more diverse, agencies have a responsibility to ensure these digital services are accessible to all citizens, including people with disabilities. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/15/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-drives-time-on-digital-media/ Tue, 15 Jul 2014 14:28:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/15/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-drives-time-on-digital-media/ Major mobile milestones in May—try saying that three times! A new mobile usage report from ComScore revealed two significant shifts to mobile in May: total time spent on digital media and time spent on apps. Here are a few highlights from the report: Mobile platforms—smartphones and tablets—accounted for 60% of total time spent on digital /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-why-and-how-to-make-them/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:51 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-why-and-how-to-make-them/ Making Web content and video accessible to people with disabilities is the law. Ensuring a video is accessible requires planning. Taking steps from day one will save you time and money. To verify that a video is accessible you’d need to incorporate three elements: Captioning Audio descriptions An Accessible video player Why Accessibility Matters Many government /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-use-a-508-compliant-video-player/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:37 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-use-a-508-compliant-video-player/ When you watch a video on your computer, the window that displays your video is called a “video player.” It usually has start, pause, and other buttons. You might not be aware that you’re using a player at all—you just watch your video. A fully-accessible video player (e.g. Section 508-compliant) /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-make-audio-descriptions/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-make-audio-descriptions/ An audio description is an additional audio track that describes and gives context for essential visual information, making videos and multimedia accessible to people who have low vision (very poor vision), or who are blind. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-caption-videos/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:22 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-caption-videos/ What are Captions? In a video, captions collect all audio information and describe them using text. They include not only spoken content but also non-speech information such as sound effects, music, laughter, and speaker identification and location (for example, audio spoken off-screen). Captions appear transposed over the visual elements in /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/federal-social-media-accessibility-toolkit-hackpad/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:18:30 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/federal-social-media-accessibility-toolkit-hackpad/ The following contains the shared document for the development of the Social Media Policy Toolkit, a shared service of the Federal Social Media Community of Practice lead by teams including The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/u-s-gov-releases-new-collaborative-social-media-services/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 05:30:47 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/u-s-gov-releases-new-collaborative-social-media-services/ The Federal #SocialGov Community, a collective of almost 700 digital engagement managers from more than 120 government agencies, marked the 2nd anniversary of our program by releasing a suite of new collaborative services to help us better work together and with partners in /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/is-it-tweet-worthy/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 01:00:27 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/is-it-tweet-worthy/ The Web now contains over 1.51 billion pages of content, according to WorldWideWebSize.com. That’s a lot of reading material, and a lot of content competing with yours for attention. People won’t waste time (even a few seconds) on an article that doesn’t matter to them in some way—not when there are so many other interesting /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/25/case-studies-in-thunderclap/ Wed, 25 Jun 2014 12:37:31 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/25/case-studies-in-thunderclap/ Now that Thunderclap has been approved for government use for nearly a year, we checked in with two agencies that have successfully used the crowd-speaking tool to rally their supporters and amplify their messages. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/24/trends-on-tuesday-are-mobile-devices-the-center-of-social-universe/ Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:28:59 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/24/trends-on-tuesday-are-mobile-devices-the-center-of-social-universe/ Mobile devices are moving closer to the center of the social universe, according to this Sproutsocial article. Platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter are overwhelmingly used on the go. Comscore predicts that there will be increasing monetization via social in the coming years. In the banking industry, where data shows many people have stopped going to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/23/using-visual-content-to-drive-engagement/ Mon, 23 Jun 2014 10:00:41 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/23/using-visual-content-to-drive-engagement/ When USA.gov was preparing to launch our campaign introducing the 2014 Consumer Action Handbook (CAH), we wanted to create highly-visual social content to see how it would do in comparison to standard text and link social media content. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/18/4-ways-to-connect-engage-expand-your-community-with-google-hangouts/ Wed, 18 Jun 2014 01:05:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/18/4-ways-to-connect-engage-expand-your-community-with-google-hangouts/ When you think about your community, you may think about your neighborhood, your city, your office or the organizations and activities you’re involved in. The Peace Corps has many of the characteristics of a community, however our reach spans the entire globe. Because we need to regularly connect /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/17/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-location-data/ Tue, 17 Jun 2014 10:00:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/17/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-location-data/ Imagine a world where your mobile device delivers ads for goods and services within 100 yards of your location. According to Thinknear, a leader in /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/12/three-ways-agencies-are-using-social-media-in-mobile-products/ Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:29:54 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/12/three-ways-agencies-are-using-social-media-in-mobile-products/ As highlighted in this Trends on Tuesday post, time spent on mobile phones—about 3 hours per day—has surpassed that of daily PC usage. This yields a significant opportunity for consumer interaction with federal agencies’ mobile apps, not just websites, and social media outlets. To take advantage of new opportunities for consumer /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/09/facebook-increases-public-service-verification-to-improve-citizen-engagement-2/ Mon, 09 Jun 2014 02:32:35 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/09/facebook-increases-public-service-verification-to-improve-citizen-engagement-2/ Facebook is now the first social media platform to start verifying all federal government pages with their signature blue checkmark using the Federal Social Media Registry API. The Federal Social Media Registry provides the singular source that allows social media platforms to quickly collect real government accounts—emphasizing the critical need to ensure the trust, quality and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/05/overcoming-barriers-digitalgov-summit-recap/ Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:09:15 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/05/overcoming-barriers-digitalgov-summit-recap/ As government innovators, we work to improve public services every day. In essence we are already in a public private partnership. But how can your agency capitalize on existing public private partnerships to engage citizens and enhance services? Four panelists from across government shared their public private partnerships success stories at the DigitalGov Citizen Services /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/05/the-importance-of-cross-channel-customer-service-digitalgov-summit-recap/ Thu, 05 Jun 2014 12:13:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/05/the-importance-of-cross-channel-customer-service-digitalgov-summit-recap/ During the DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit last Friday, customer service experts from across government came together on a panel to share what customer service means to them and their organization and specific ways they leverage it. The other panels were on performance analysis, public private partnerships, and inter-agency work. The panelists spoke about the strategies /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/04/evaluating-digital-communication-an-international-incident/ Wed, 04 Jun 2014 10:00:28 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/04/evaluating-digital-communication-an-international-incident/ Are you measuring Twitter followers and press release downloads without any clue as to what people are doing with your agency’s products and information? Or do you not even know what to measure, never mind whether that measurement would be meaningful? Fear not, fair government communicator—there is hope! On May 15, top government communication measurement /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/03/harnessing-the-power-of-many-digitalgov-summit-panels-recap/ Tue, 03 Jun 2014 15:14:11 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/03/harnessing-the-power-of-many-digitalgov-summit-panels-recap/ At the DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit last Friday, Jacob Parcell, Manager, Mobile Programs at the General Services Administration led a panel on the challenges and benefits of Inter-Agency work. The other panels were on performance analysis, customer service across channels, and public private partnerships. “The challenges are real,” said Parcell, who quoted President Obama’s famous salmon /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/03/digitalgov-summit-panels-recap/ Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:35:10 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/03/digitalgov-summit-panels-recap/ At the DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit last Friday, more than 200 innovators across government and industry came together to share how digital services can improve citizen services and reduce cost. Four panels convened to share information on performance analysis, customer service across channels, public private partnerships and inter-agency work. We have a recap of the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/30/digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-a-success/ Fri, 30 May 2014 04:36:49 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/30/digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-a-success/ We had a GREAT DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit today. There were more than 200 digital innovators from across government and industry working to build the 21st century government the public expects. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/29/why-we-turned-off-comments-on-the-usa-gov-blog/ Thu, 29 May 2014 10:00:54 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/29/why-we-turned-off-comments-on-the-usa-gov-blog/ On Friday, we made a big change over on the USA.gov blog—we turned off the ability for people to comment on our posts. Now before you all start looking at me like I have five heads and wondering what Koolaid I’m drinking, let me explain our reasoning. We’ve had comments on blog.usa.gov since it launched /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/27/trends-on-tuesday-hispanic-millennials-provide-insight-on-mobile-future/ Tue, 27 May 2014 13:24:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/27/trends-on-tuesday-hispanic-millennials-provide-insight-on-mobile-future/ If you’re a frequent Trends on Tuesday reader, you may recall our post titled, “Latinos Embrace the Mobile Future,” which outlined several key categories where Latinos have adopted mobile technology faster than other groups. A new report by Univision and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, took an in-depth look at the mobile habits of Hispanic millennials, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/21/ignite-with-us/ Wed, 21 May 2014 15:00:05 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/21/ignite-with-us/ Have a DigitalGov success?—published an API? Got buy-in from leadership? Changed a part of your customer-service paradigm? Developed a cool dashboard? Got the app out the door? Heck! Have you prototyped a wearable, drivable or flyable? Have a DigitalGov opinion?—think we should be focusing more or less on something? Have an idea on how to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/21/inter-agency-federal-social-media-promotes-womens-health-campaign/ Wed, 21 May 2014 13:35:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/21/inter-agency-federal-social-media-promotes-womens-health-campaign/ Last week, we discussed National Women’s Health Week (NWHW) as an example of a coordinated campaign that used digital tools. Social media has made building campaigns easier by enabling us to quickly reach out to groups with similar missions as well as to engage with /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/19/sign-up-for-digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-friday-may-30/ Mon, 19 May 2014 03:03:16 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/19/sign-up-for-digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-friday-may-30/ We won’t build the government of the 21st century by drawing within the lines. We don’t have to tell you the hard work of building a digital government doesn’t exist in a vacuum or a bubble. Show us social media without mobile, Web without data and user experience without APIs. You can’t? That’s right—in reality, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/16/5-things-every-federal-recruiter-should-know-about-linkedin/ Fri, 16 May 2014 10:00:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/16/5-things-every-federal-recruiter-should-know-about-linkedin/ Some people think LinkedIn is only for active job seekers. Although many of LinkedIn’s 300,000,000+ registered members fit that profile, LinkedIn is also chock-full of passive job seekers—those who have a job but are /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/15/new-google-analytics-for-government-training-manual/ Thu, 15 May 2014 10:00:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/15/new-google-analytics-for-government-training-manual/ Looking for a training manual on how to use Google Analytics for your agency? In 2014, I released a second edition of my Google Analytics for Government training manual. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/13/trends-on-tuesday-apps-dominate-mobile-web-usage/ Tue, 13 May 2014 13:13:22 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/13/trends-on-tuesday-apps-dominate-mobile-web-usage/ “There’s an app for that.” New data from app analytics provider Flurry on mobile app usage reveals that smartphone users are taking this trademarked slogan to heart. Of the 2 hours and 42 minutes per day that a typical user is on a mobile device, mobile app usage accounts for 2 hours and 19 minutes /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/13/what-is-a-terms-of-service-and-how-do-i-get-one/ Tue, 13 May 2014 10:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/13/what-is-a-terms-of-service-and-how-do-i-get-one/ Imagine this: You just found a great online tool that can help you do your federal job 100% better. You’re all ready to download it and start conquering the world when someone asks, “Have you checked the Terms of Service?” You’re not sure what they’re /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/08/save-the-date-for-fccs-social-media-accessibility-event/ Thu, 08 May 2014 01:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/08/save-the-date-for-fccs-social-media-accessibility-event/ On Thursday, July 17, the FCC’s Accessibility and Innovation Initiative will host a public event called “Accessing Social Media.” The purpose is to promote collaborative, cross-sector problem-solving on how to produce and consume accessible social media, considering authoring tools, client apps, and best practices for various /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/05/government-open-and-structured-content-models-are-here/ Mon, 05 May 2014 14:17:39 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/05/government-open-and-structured-content-models-are-here/ Smartphones, tablets, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, not to mention your agency’s desktop website, are all clamoring for information, but sliced and diced in different ways. How can you make your content adaptive for efficient delivery to all of these mediums? Structured content and open content models can help you create content that /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/02/wrestling-government-social-media-data-into-knowledge/ Fri, 02 May 2014 15:20:17 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/02/wrestling-government-social-media-data-into-knowledge/ This week the SocialGov Community took the step of recruiting a Digital Engagement Knowledge Manager, and I am excited to join the team through the innovative new Open Opportunities Program. At this point, though, you may be asking—is there really so much information out there that it needs to be /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/30/need-help-responding-to-facebook-twitter-questions-use-your-contact-center-customer-service-experts/ Wed, 30 Apr 2014 10:00:49 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/30/need-help-responding-to-facebook-twitter-questions-use-your-contact-center-customer-service-experts/ Government agencies are always looking for better ways to connect with their audiences while making more effective use of existing (or shrinking) resources. To that end, many agencies—including ours, the National Cancer Institute—have begun to use social media platforms to help serve the communications mission. As these tools have become more widely used, NCI’s Contact /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/30/federal-perspectives-on-reaching-our-audiences-with-new-media-tools-in-2014/ Wed, 30 Apr 2014 01:03:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/30/federal-perspectives-on-reaching-our-audiences-with-new-media-tools-in-2014/ AIDS.gov convenes and is guided by the Federal HIV/AIDS Web Council. The Council includes Web/new media leads, subject matter experts, and communication leads representing HIV programs across the U.S. government. Together we use new media to promote federal programs, policies and resources related to HIV. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/23/when-sharing-buttons-work/ Wed, 23 Apr 2014 10:00:41 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/23/when-sharing-buttons-work/ At the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) we use sharing buttons on our website to help people share content from web pages with their colleagues and friends. With one click, a user can post a page’s link to popular social networking sites or send it via email. The article To Use /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/22/government-social-media-isnt-lagging-its-different-and-thats-good/ Tue, 22 Apr 2014 16:30:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/22/government-social-media-isnt-lagging-its-different-and-thats-good/ Social Media tools, trends and algorithms come and go, but federal managers continue to see improvements in their digital engagement initiatives when they put citizens at the center of their programs. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/22/social-media-and-earth-day/ Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:40:10 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/22/social-media-and-earth-day/ On this Earth Day, federal social media managers are hard at work, sharing and promoting what government and citizens can do to protect the environment. We’ve compiled a sample of the activities that also show how different agencies are using different social media tools in support of a common goal. The United States Environmental Protection /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/21/customer-satisfaction-innovating-with-lack-of-resources/ Mon, 21 Apr 2014 13:09:32 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/21/customer-satisfaction-innovating-with-lack-of-resources/ As government contact centers, we all face financial and technological constraints in our pursuit to improve the customer experience. One challenge faced by many contact centers is staffing limitations to handle the volume of incoming customer traffic. There are barely enough employees to operate phones, let alone work on meeting or exceeding the organizational customer /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/16/how-to-tell-your-agencys-story-plainly/ Wed, 16 Apr 2014 10:00:23 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/16/how-to-tell-your-agencys-story-plainly/ You’ve got the right words, the active verbs, the carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs. You’ve got the facts. You’ve got the talking points. All you have to do is put it together, right? /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/08/tell-us-your-internet-of-things-challenges/ Tue, 08 Apr 2014 01:04:09 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/08/tell-us-your-internet-of-things-challenges/ The Internet of Things, a concept approaching reality, is best described as objects (think appliance, trees, etc.) in the world equipped with identifying devices or machine-readable identifiers that make them connected to the Web. This handy infographic charts the history and development of the idea and perhaps this washing machine could be a roadmap to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/03/can-federal-agencies-use-getty-images-free-share-tool/ Thu, 03 Apr 2014 10:00:32 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/03/can-federal-agencies-use-getty-images-free-share-tool/ Earlier this month, stock photo giant Getty Images launched an embedded photo viewer, that permits sharing millions of its’ copyrighted images for free. The news generated headlines and questions about whether it’s okay for government content producers to use the tool. From Getty’s perspective, the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/02/to-use-social-sharing-buttons-or-not/ Wed, 02 Apr 2014 13:00:25 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/02/to-use-social-sharing-buttons-or-not/ Our digital gov neighbors in the U.K. have been working on their own digital strategy, including the consolidating into a single website. When the GOV.UK team introduced social sharing buttons, that allow users to post a link to the page on Facebook or Twitter, on their /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/01/digital-analytics-program-dap-oceans-of-data/ Tue, 01 Apr 2014 14:30:56 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/01/digital-analytics-program-dap-oceans-of-data/ In the last 15 months, the federal Digital Analytics Program (DAP) monthly Web traffic has grown to more than 1.1 billion views gov-wide, providing Web analytics to 29 U.S. federal cabinet-level agencies and nearly 3,000 public-facing government Web properties. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/27/national-weather-service-think-social-training/ Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:00:02 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/27/national-weather-service-think-social-training/ For the last several years the National Weather Service has been rolling out social media accounts for all of their 122 field offices. Each office now has a Facebook page, Twitter handle and YouTube account to better communicate our life saving messages to the public. As these accounts were /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/27/gsa-introduces-news-genius-to-decode-government-web/ Thu, 27 Mar 2014 08:00:20 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/27/gsa-introduces-news-genius-to-decode-government-web/ The federal government can now unlock the collaborative genius of citizens and communities to make public services easier to access and understand with a new free social media platform launched by GSA today at the Federal #SocialGov Summit on Entrepreneurship and Small Business. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/19/nine-tips-to-leverage-your-facebook-page/ Wed, 19 Mar 2014 01:02:11 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/19/nine-tips-to-leverage-your-facebook-page/ Due to recent news feed changes, Facebook engagement is down nearly 50% since October for brand pages and is predicted to go lower, according to Social@Ogilvy. As a result federal agencies are continually monitoring the performance of their pages and diversifying their strategies. We talked to members of the Social Media Community /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/14/customize-your-own-amazing-social-media-report-infographic/ Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:00:32 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/14/customize-your-own-amazing-social-media-report-infographic/ Social Media Community of Practice developed a set of baseline social media metrics to help you assess whether your efforts are achieving the results you want. How do /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/10/we-love-it-when-a-plan-comes-together/ Mon, 10 Mar 2014 10:56:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/10/we-love-it-when-a-plan-comes-together/ Federal agencies are currently hard at work developing revised Open Government Plans—blueprints that are published every two years, highlighting agency progress towards making their work more transparent, participatory, and collaborative, and outlining new open government commitments going forward. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/04/creating-awesome-web-analytics-reports-and-presentations/ Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:33:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/04/creating-awesome-web-analytics-reports-and-presentations/ Collecting visitor, engagement, and traffic data for your digital channels is nothing new. By this time, you have a lot of data about your website. How do you use and present that data to make meaningful recommendations? /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/28/what-do-people-think-of-your-content-ask-your-contact-center/ Fri, 28 Feb 2014 09:36:00 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/28/what-do-people-think-of-your-content-ask-your-contact-center/ All of us want to improve the content and information we provide to the public, but we’re intimidated by where to start: Does our website provide clear content? Is the best information hidden on pages a few layers down? What should we tweet about /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/26/noaa-national-weather-service-meteorologist-twitter-use-shows-that-all-government-employees-are-communicators/ Wed, 26 Feb 2014 08:42:30 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/26/noaa-national-weather-service-meteorologist-twitter-use-shows-that-all-government-employees-are-communicators/ During the run up to a recent winter storm, Twitter was aflutter with reports of 20-30 inches of snow falling across wide swaths of the Midwest. Unfortunately for snow lovers, those rumors were highly speculative and unfounded. That didn’t stop members /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/24/tumblr-a-flexible-social-media-platform/ Mon, 24 Feb 2014 10:12:01 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/24/tumblr-a-flexible-social-media-platform/ When HHS’s Katie Gorscak was looking for a way to share Stopbullying.gov’s information with teenagers, she looked at her options on social media. New reports seem to come out regularly talking about how teens are fleeing “traditional” social media sites, but Gorscak knew her target audience /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/20/lights-camera-action-7-tips-to-run-a-successful-video-challenge/ Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:10:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/20/lights-camera-action-7-tips-to-run-a-successful-video-challenge/ Not sure how to craft a video challenge that will result in the creative solutions your agency is looking for? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Jason Crusan from NASA and Tammi Marcoullier from Challenge.gov joined a recent DigitalGov University webinar to share best practices and hurdles in running video competitions. We’ve recapped their advice and key /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/20/124062/ Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:01:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/20/124062/ There’s no way to sugar-coat it. It’s that time again. Tax time. And just in (tax)time, the Internal Revenue Service has updated its handy IRS2Go Mobile App for iPhone/iTouch and Android phones. The 2014 version of the app offers a more elegant and streamlined visual experience — and a /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/18/state-of-the-socialgov-2014/ Tue, 18 Feb 2014 04:09:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/18/state-of-the-socialgov-2014/ If the silos and barriers that separated our programs are smashed, what could we do to realize the full potential of innovation in public service? Whether you’re a citizen who needs better access to services, an entrepreneur looking to spark innovation in the marketplace, or a public servant who wants to get your mission done /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/14/engagement/ Fri, 14 Feb 2014 12:58:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/14/engagement/ It’s one of the most important words to a federal social media account manager and knowing who to talk to can sometimes make or break a communications campaign. The idea of making sure your social media accounts are reaching key constituents and members of /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/guidance-for-social-media-providers/ Fri, 14 Feb 2014 12:30:27 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/guidance-for-social-media-providers/ GSA welcomes interest from providers that want to offer, for the federal government’s consideration, social media products that are free of charge. If you are such a provider, please email GSA and include the following information: Explanation of the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/10/managing-measuring-and-archiving-with-hootsuite/ Mon, 10 Feb 2014 03:20:04 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/10/managing-measuring-and-archiving-with-hootsuite/ Federal workers need to know more in social media than just how to send a tweet. Among other things, you also need to manage multiple accounts across platforms and languages; measure and report performance; and archive posts and comments for the public record. We dispelled the notion that technology limits agencies from tackling these challenges /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/05/crowdhall-tint-now-available-for-federal-use/ Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:59:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/05/crowdhall-tint-now-available-for-federal-use/ It’s been a busy few months negotiating Terms of Service on behalf of the federal government, and we’re happy to announce CrowdHall and Tint are now available and that the Tumblr agreement has been updated for the first time in almost 2 years.CrowdHall logo /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/31/instameets-combine-in-person-and-digital-engagement/ Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:23:51 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/31/instameets-combine-in-person-and-digital-engagement/ Federal agencies continue to look for better ways to combine the benefits of online engagement and in-person action — Instameets can achieve this strategic goal by using Instagram with meetups to amplify the vision of your mission. Katie Harbath, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/28/trends-on-tuesday-65-of-all-email-gets-opened-first-on-a-mobile-device/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 05:37:44 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/28/trends-on-tuesday-65-of-all-email-gets-opened-first-on-a-mobile-device/ While composing email on mobile phones is still a tricky feat, email reading is quickly shifting away from the desktop. According to data from the US Consumer Device Preference Report: Q4 2013 from Movable Ink, way more than half of all email — a full 65 percent — is now being accessed /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/28/innovation-means-more-better-cost-effective-digital-training/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 03:02:41 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/28/innovation-means-more-better-cost-effective-digital-training/ SocialGov Summits bring together agencies from across government to share and learn how we can improve digital services to make services more effective and cost efficient. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/24/top-10-lessons-learned-from-launching-an-engaging-social-intranet/ Fri, 24 Jan 2014 15:19:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/24/top-10-lessons-learned-from-launching-an-engaging-social-intranet/ On January 16th, the Federal Communicators Network gathered at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The topic of the day was Driving Employee Engagement through a Social Intranet, and Kelly Osborn, NARA’s community manager for the Internal Collaboration Network (ICN) was the expert speaker. Kelly has been the driving force behind the project from /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/23/extreme-makeover-gc-news-release-edition/ Thu, 23 Jan 2014 10:01:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/23/extreme-makeover-gc-news-release-edition/ The Government of Canada (GC) is retiring the traditional news release format in favour of a more digital-friendly product that makes the key messages of announcements clearer, quick facts more accessible and integrates more effectively with social media channels. The old style /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/21/trends-on-tuesday-4th-qtr-online-mobile-traffic-up-40-over-last-year/ Tue, 21 Jan 2014 17:53:37 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/21/trends-on-tuesday-4th-qtr-online-mobile-traffic-up-40-over-last-year/ According to the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark report, overall 4th quarter online sales were up 10.3% year over year. Here were some of the key drivers: • Mobile Traffic and Sales: Mobile traffic soared, accounting for nearly 35 percent of all online traffic, up /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/16/fema-app-adds-disaster-reporter-feature/ Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:03:25 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/16/fema-app-adds-disaster-reporter-feature/ The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is taking the well-known slogan, “See something, say something,” to the crowd. Consider it more “See something, submit something.” Harnessing the power of citizen intelligence to understand and respond to disasters, FEMA in late 2013 launched a new feature in /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/14/trends-on-tuesday-the-future-of-mobile-data/ Tue, 14 Jan 2014 17:20:40 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/14/trends-on-tuesday-the-future-of-mobile-data/ This infographic from Light Reading addresses recent trends in mobile data use. We are struck by how much data was transferred via a WiFi connection vs. cellular. People are using WiFi connections way more than cellular ones. Some other quick highlights: In Q2 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/10/updating-blog-comment-policies/ Fri, 10 Jan 2014 06:00:07 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/10/updating-blog-comment-policies/ The difference between only distributing an online press release and opening up the benefits from a blogging community can be found in how your agency encourages and manages comments and engagement. An easily-referenced comment policy lets authors and contributors know what your agency’s guidelines are in order /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/10/advancing-forward-best-of-social-media-in-2013-and-beyond/ Fri, 10 Jan 2014 05:42:11 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/10/advancing-forward-best-of-social-media-in-2013-and-beyond/ It was a very good year, as Frank Sinatra sang, in the field of social media for the federal government. Advances were made not only in the technologies applied by agencies, but also the policies and strategies that unlock their potential to improve services and reduce costs. I’d like to share with you just some /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/20/best-week-ever-in-socialgov-december-edition/ Fri, 20 Dec 2013 09:42:53 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/20/best-week-ever-in-socialgov-december-edition/ (This is the next installment of an ongoing series charting the programs, events and people that make the emerging field of social media and data in government an exciting place to serve the public. Agencies are encouraged to submit their own stories for this travelogue of digital innovation.) From /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/20/live-tweeting-government-events-dos-and-donts/ Fri, 20 Dec 2013 09:24:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/20/live-tweeting-government-events-dos-and-donts/ In this time of tight travel budgets, not everyone can make it to every event or conference they’d like to attend. Luckily, Twitter has made it easier to share events through live tweeting. Live tweeting is using Twitter /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/19/facebook-news-feed-algorithm-update-what-you-need-to-know/ Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:47:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/19/facebook-news-feed-algorithm-update-what-you-need-to-know/ Facebook announced they are refining their algorithm this week to better identify and promote quality news content. This can and will affect your strategic performance, but what exactly makes “quality” content and how can your agency ensure they are on the winning side of this adjustment? We talked with Facebook about the changes, and the bottom /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/19/eventbrite-now-available-for-federal-use/ Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:26:12 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/19/eventbrite-now-available-for-federal-use/ Does your agency host events, organize meet-ups, or provide training and professional development? Eventbrite is the latest tool with a federal-compatible Terms of Service. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/26/empowering-forest-service-scientific-experts-to-educate-the-world-using-live-video/ Tue, 26 Nov 2013 14:40:37 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/26/empowering-forest-service-scientific-experts-to-educate-the-world-using-live-video/ In July 2013, U.S. Forest Service fisheries biologist Pete Schneider launched a YouTube Live video event from the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in Alaska. The goal of the project was to not only deliver a reliable 2-month long, 24/7, live video stream where an international audience could witness spawning Sockeye salmon, hungry Dolly Varden, cunning /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/25/twitter-best-practices-for-government/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:01:09 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/25/twitter-best-practices-for-government/ Best practices and success stories to help government leverage the power of Twitter /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/20/great-customer-experience-through-open-dialogue/ Wed, 20 Nov 2013 09:19:59 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/20/great-customer-experience-through-open-dialogue/ While we think about the audience, we don’t often map out the experience we want them to have when using our services. This is critical information for the design. In other cases, we may not have the data to analyze existing customers’ /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/19/next-socialgov-summit-using-social-media-to-promote-challenge-and-prize-competitions/ Tue, 19 Nov 2013 09:39:30 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/19/next-socialgov-summit-using-social-media-to-promote-challenge-and-prize-competitions/ A public prize spurred Charles Lindbergh to fly across the Atlantic, and this week social media managers across government will help a new generation of prize competitions take flight. These sessions aren’t just for social media managers who have held a challenge or are /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/05/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-surpasses-desktop-for-social-media/ Tue, 05 Nov 2013 10:30:24 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/05/trends-on-tuesday-mobile-surpasses-desktop-for-social-media/ More users are now accessing social media via mobile than on desktops. People are checking email or using social networks during their commute, in line at the grocery store, or waiting at the doctor’s /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/31/creative-challenge-contests/ Thu, 31 Oct 2013 14:21:03 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/31/creative-challenge-contests/ Multimedia, Photo, Poster, Design Challenge and prize competitions are one path that federal agencies take to drive innovation and solve mission-centric problems—whether technical, scientific, or creative. Creative competitions include multimedia, photo, poster, and design competitions. Here you’ll find tips on running a creative challenge, resources, examples, and information about online platforms you can use to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/22/tuesday-trends-lets-talk-connected-devices/ Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:15:32 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/22/tuesday-trends-lets-talk-connected-devices/ Mobile Future recently released this infographic about the proliferation of connected devices. Among the key data points: Today, there are 10 billion connected devices. By 2020, data from connected devices will more than double all global Internet traffic in 2012. Traffic /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/18/pew-report-trends-in-digital-news/ Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:29:47 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/18/pew-report-trends-in-digital-news/ A report by the PEW Research Center, 12 trends for shaping digital news, looks at how the internet and digital devices are changing news consumption habits. While half of all Americans still prefer to get their news from /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/17/hosting-successful-federal-twitter-chats/ Thu, 17 Oct 2013 14:11:31 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/17/hosting-successful-federal-twitter-chats/ One way to leverage Twitter, beyond the basics of sending messages and engaging in dialogue, is to organize a Town Hall discussion, or Twitter chat. New guidance on preparing a live chat is now available, and we need your agencies to contribute your own policies /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/16/twitter-chats-for-federal-agencies/ Wed, 16 Oct 2013 12:10:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/16/twitter-chats-for-federal-agencies/ A Twitter town hall, or Twitter chat, is an event where agencies invite public engagement for a scheduled time period during which users can ask questions or find out more information about a topic via Twitter, much like a webinar. The questions are tagged /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/30/best-week-ever-in-socialgov-week-2/ Mon, 30 Sep 2013 02:58:09 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/30/best-week-ever-in-socialgov-week-2/ (This is the second installment of an ongoing series charting the programs, events and people that make the emerging field of social media and data in government From where I sit, I think we just had a great week in #socialgov. From a sold-out international forum that demonstrated how we can use free tools to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/23/tackling-pii-in-electronic-data/ Mon, 23 Sep 2013 18:11:36 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/23/tackling-pii-in-electronic-data/ As non-lawyers peering into the legal world, be advised this post is not official legal advice from the Office of General Counsel. These are our impressions and what we took away from the Legal Learning Series session Social Media – Privacy, Records and Litigation. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/20/privacy-policies-terms-of-service-and-pias-oh-my/ Fri, 20 Sep 2013 11:48:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/20/privacy-policies-terms-of-service-and-pias-oh-my/ Guest post by Cheryl Hackley who works in the Office of Public Affairs at the Federal Trade Commission. From my early days of using email, sites like MySpace, and later getting my first smartphone, it was a common practice for me to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/18/best-week-in-socialgov-ever-week-1/ Wed, 18 Sep 2013 10:39:52 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/18/best-week-in-socialgov-ever-week-1/ (This is the first installment of an ongoing series charting the programs, events and people that make the emerging field of social media and data in government an exciting place to serve the public. Agencies are encouraged to submit their own stories for this travelogue of digital innovation.) From where I sit, I think we /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/10/how-to-be-a-fly-on-the-wall-the-dos-and-donts-of-sharing-executive-discussions/ Tue, 10 Sep 2013 10:05:05 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/10/how-to-be-a-fly-on-the-wall-the-dos-and-donts-of-sharing-executive-discussions/ A sure way to annoy employees is to never share what executives discuss or decide until a new mandate lands on the organization’s collective head. While senior leaders should expect some privacy in decision-making and debate, they should also expect to openly hold themselves accountable and to make sure their employees know where the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/04/better-performance-and-metric-downloads-now-available-from-go-usa-gov/ Wed, 04 Sep 2013 11:04:03 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/04/better-performance-and-metric-downloads-now-available-from-go-usa-gov/ A few weeks ago, the Go.USA.gov URL shortener introduced several new features to improve the user experience. Go.USA.gov now offers users faster speeds and downloadable metric information about their links. The service, which launched in 2009, gives government agencies the ability to provide trustworthy shortened links to their audience. Just /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/08/13/socialgov-summit-diagnoses-viral-gov/ Tue, 13 Aug 2013 18:20:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/08/13/socialgov-summit-diagnoses-viral-gov/ Agencies discuss how to make social media programs more sharable and engaging. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/08/05/thunderclap-now-available-for-government-wide-adoption/ Mon, 05 Aug 2013 12:34:39 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/08/05/thunderclap-now-available-for-government-wide-adoption/ Thunderclap is the latest social media and crowd-sourcing platform available to federal agencies to better engage with the public, with a newly negotiated government-compatible Terms of Service (TOS) agreement. GSA collaborated with Thunderclap to negotiate the amended terms, which brings the total number of tools with federal-compatible agreements to 66. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/23/trends-on-tuesday-uprise-of-sms-marketing/ Tue, 23 Jul 2013 15:30:39 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/23/trends-on-tuesday-uprise-of-sms-marketing/ MobileMarketingWatch recently published an article on how the SMS marketing world is changing. Due to its popularity, SMS has evolved into one of the most effective mobile marketing strategies. Improves Relevance for All: Marketers tailor campaigns to a variety of interests in order /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/22/moderating-a-government-blog/ Mon, 22 Jul 2013 12:58:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/22/moderating-a-government-blog/ Guest post by Curtis Robert Burns, better known as Blogger Bob, at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). As a blogger for TSA I believe moderating blog comments always comes down to an understanding of your employer’s mission, audience, and your /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/15/digital-metrics-for-federal-agencies/ Mon, 15 Jul 2013 11:41:47 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/15/digital-metrics-for-federal-agencies/ Digital metrics are critical for measuring, analyzing, and reporting on the effectiveness of your Web, mobile, social media, and other digital channels. Every agency should have a metrics strategy to measure performance, customer satisfaction, and engagement, and use the data to make continuous improvements to serve its customers. Part 1: Common Metrics: Guidance, Best Practices, and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/08/instagram-now-available-for-federal-agencies/ Mon, 08 Jul 2013 10:57:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/08/instagram-now-available-for-federal-agencies/ Instagram is the latest mobile and social media tool available to federal, state and local governments to better engage with the public, with a newly negotiated government-compatible Terms of Service (TOS) agreement. GSA collaborated with Instagram to negotiate the amended terms, which brings the total number of /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/02/what-weve-learned-three-years-of-answering-questions-on-social-media/ Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:46:16 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/02/what-weve-learned-three-years-of-answering-questions-on-social-media/ USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov have been engaging with the public on social media long before Mayor Cory Booker underscored the need at this year’s SXSW. In January 2010, we began to respond to questions and comments on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. We never advertised the service, but people naturally /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/26/5-myths-about-social-media-accessibility-2/ Wed, 26 Jun 2013 14:03:57 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/26/5-myths-about-social-media-accessibility-2/ Guest post by Mario Damiani, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the Department of Labor. ODEP spearheads the Social Media Accessibility Working Group within the Federal Social Media Community of Practice. The working group recently released a toolkit for agencies to make their content more accessible for citizens with disabilities, including recommendations from agencies /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/12/take-your-social-media-program-from-rags-to-riches/ Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:55:54 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/12/take-your-social-media-program-from-rags-to-riches/ Are you a small or even one-deep government social media team who wonders how with limited resources you can still deliver the program citizens need? Do you have a larger team but still want to know how you can roll up your sleeves and make a change? If either /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/07/youtube-releases-new-features/ Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:19:24 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/07/youtube-releases-new-features/ YouTube recently upgraded to the new One Channel design. The new design emphasizes responsive layouts for mobile devices, tablets, desktops and laptops, and TVs. A single banner on a white background replaces a customizable background and color scheme. YouTube recommends using a single 2560 x 1440 px image that fits /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/05/mary-meekers-internet-trends-report/ Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:49:57 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/05/mary-meekers-internet-trends-report/ Techcrunch. com reports Mary Meeker’s much anticipated annual Internet Trends report released at the D11 Conference last week shows astounding growth regarding use of smartphones and tablets. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/31/twitters-two-step-verification-process/ Fri, 31 May 2013 11:16:45 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/31/twitters-two-step-verification-process/ To enhance security, Twitter now offers two-step verification. The release of the new feature follows several high-profile account breaches – including a false tweet sent from the Associated Press’s Twitter account in April. If you chose to enable the two-step verification feature, Twitter sends a text message with a unique code to a cell phone that must be /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/30/apples-ios-terms-of-service-developer-program-license-agreement/ Thu, 30 May 2013 11:10:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/30/apples-ios-terms-of-service-developer-program-license-agreement/ The Apple iTunes App store is the only marketplace for downloading apps for the Apple platform. In order to put apps in the iTunes store, agencies or their contractors have signed agreements with Apple to use Apple Software to produce mobile apps that can later /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/10/nih-twitter-chats-collaborations-multiply-successes/ Fri, 10 May 2013 09:06:27 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/10/nih-twitter-chats-collaborations-multiply-successes/ Twitter Chat discussing anxiety, stress, and complementary health practices December 18, 2012 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/25/government-must-respond-rapidly-to-social-media-hacking/ Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:25:31 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/25/government-must-respond-rapidly-to-social-media-hacking/ The hacking of an Associated Press news account on Twitter this week, and its fallout, underscored the need for agencies /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/19/social-media-metrics-for-federal-agencies/ Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:45:50 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/19/social-media-metrics-for-federal-agencies/ Social media is transforming how government engages with citizens and how it delivers service. Agencies are using social media to share information and deliver service more quickly and effectively than ever before. Increasingly, these tools are also being used for predictive and sentiment analysis—using the vast /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/30/using-gamification-in-federal-projects/ Fri, 30 Nov 2012 02:35:26 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/30/using-gamification-in-federal-projects/ Gamification is the practice of using game technology or design principles for something that is not inherently game-like. Some examples include: bronze, silver, and gold badges for reading a set number of books, progress bars in online surveys, leader boards for top grades on an exam, or rewards for attending in-person events. As gamification projects are /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/30/socialgov-summit-highlights-accessibility-challenges/ Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:58:51 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/30/socialgov-summit-highlights-accessibility-challenges/ The recent #SocialGov Summit on accessibility of government social media raised emerging issues faced by agencies in their effort to make sure the information citizens need is communicated to them when and how they need it. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/19/case-study-how-gsa-launched-social-media-registry/ Mon, 19 Nov 2012 01:14:12 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/19/case-study-how-gsa-launched-social-media-registry/ In September, the General Services Administration (GSA) launched a registry of all federally-managed social media accounts. We want to explain a little of the history behind the registry and talk about a few things that make it a truly remarkable innovation from GSA. Before I start, I want to emphasize when I say “we” from /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/19/feds-shed-light-on-dark-social/ Fri, 19 Oct 2012 02:05:46 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/19/feds-shed-light-on-dark-social/ “Dark Social” media took the web by storm this week, unveiling to many the shadows in measuring your social media impact. This accounts for the majority of your traffic and yet lives untraced where standard metrics fear to tread (or simply cannot) — places like email and instant /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/08/06/how-kids-search/ Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:11:43 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/08/06/how-kids-search/ Kids and adults use Web search tools differently. Kids fail more often, because they often don’t have enough knowledge or experience to search using the right keywords, or understand search results. If you’re designing websites for kids, remember that they use search tools differently than adults. Kids prefer surfing over searching. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/02/19/social-data-unlocked-next-generation-services/ Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:44:51 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/02/19/social-data-unlocked-next-generation-services/ Today at the Social Gov Summit for Social Media Week DC, we’ll showcase two new initiatives for citizens, agencies and small businesses that help unlock the full potential of social data for the next generation of government services and engagement.