Will government need to be dragged into the new reality

In the past, politicians and bureaucrats generally saw themselves as deciding what services the public needed – and then arranging to have those services delivered, either directly or through outsourcing.

In a ’social media’ environment, that role can be defined as simply ‘meeting the needs of the community’.

The difference is subtle, but extremely important.  However, I fear  it may well be beyond the grasp of much of our current bureaucracy, even though the public increasingly ‘gets it’.  Many elected representatives and unelected bureaucrats  believe they automatically know what’s best for the populace.  With a few notable exceptions, it’s called delusion.

I started thinking along these lines after  one of my favourite bloggers, Carl Haggerty, recently suggested that social media would require the public sector to allow local people to determine how resources should be delivered”.  The key words here are “local people” and “determine”.

Another excellent writer on the subject, Paul Clarke, said that government would need to engage and listen to the public so it could  find out what was really needed to serve a community.

Paul admits that there are financial hurdles, as well as “an enormous amount of established practice and ‘habit’ to address.

“It’s not easy to throw everything in the air and start from the beginning.

“It takes a seriously sensitive hand to guide and shape services without reverting to pale, top-down reflections of what was really needed.

“It might not involve the services as they’ve traditionally been delivered. It might not involve some of the services at all. It’s very likely to involve some that haven’t even been designed yet…

“Aim to deliver a set of services, and you’ll do just that. Perhaps a little better each year, perhaps with a few innovations, but by and large you’ll always do what you’ve always done.

“Aim to serve a community, and things really could change…”

It’s not rocket science but, unfortunately, our bureaucracy rarely seems to contains Obama-style visionaries. For many of them, the old untargeted marketing of ‘messages’ lives on, despite a changing, connected world.

The great wall of bureaucracy

 

 

Update your knowledge in real time

The landscape for communicators is changing radically.

And for many of us in the industry, it could be time to update some of our basic understanding of the digital medium.

The use of real time micro blogging in recent big international events, including the Mumbai bombings, the plane in the Hudson River and the fatal bushfires in Australia, has spurred debate about the role of the Internet.

Discussion has centred on the public demand for on line information as events actually happen, as opposed to web searches after the event.  Micro blogging from the scene  - whether by citizens or media professionals – increasingly, is being demanded as the norm.

And that is a vastly different creature to the traditional Google search that has long been seen as the core of digital communication.

Now, the race is on to meet this changing demand by providing real time information. Some journalists who covered  the recent Australian bushfires did so 140 characters at a time using micro-blogger, Twitter.  

The Twitter people  may have stolen a march on rivals with their real time search engine.  Simply type a subject into the search box and you will find any current Twitters on that matter.  Google News is another alternative; perhaps slower but considered by some to be more authorative.

As I discussed in an earlier post, another answer may be Peoplebrowsr, which has an intriging potential to integrate current news from traditional sources with current social media comment.

However, while developments like this are watched with interest, I suggest that all communicators worth their salt get up to speed on real time searching — and do it now. The times are certainly achanging …. and not only in the stock markets.

Ian

Take a close look at your communications

How ironic that many communicators are proving to be closet Luddites.

The art of communications is moving to talking directly with stakeholders, rather than talking ‘at them’. And the fact that this is catching some communicators by surprise, is probably the result of them relying too heavily on media relations.

Traditional media releases and media liaison has always been just one tool in the communicator’s arsenal. The PR industry has understood this, but too many communications managers have allowed media relations to become the “be all and end all” – the holy grail and centrepiece of their work.

This was never going to be sustainable. Community empowerment through digital communications is dramatically changing the role of the media. Savvy media outlets have recognised it; have moved on line in a big way; and are adapting to co-exist with social media. However, many communications people have been left in the wake, refusing to give up the idea of full control over message and still clinging to a rapidly outdated model of pushing their version of information at people via traditional media.

There’s no need to abandon media relations. Communications is evolving quickly, but the media remains a key player. It is time, however, to rethink your style of media liaison and to consider your whole communication system, especially if it still relies heavily on traditional media relations such as e-mailing message releases to mass media and hoping.