Andrea DiMaio

 A report by two researchers at the National Defense University suggesting the need for a comprehensive strategy for the use of social media in government introduces an interesting classification of use.

They built a matrix with “Primary sharing direction” (internal vs. external) and “Familiarity with participants” (known vs. unknown), resulting into four different functions of social software in government:

• inward sharing, within the agency or department (such as the TSA Idea Factory, or the Army’s CompanyCommand)
• outward sharing, with other agencies and external groups (such as GovLoop or the use of LinkedIn by the NIUSR)
• inbound sharing, i.e. obtaining information and input from the public and outside organizations (such as with Change.gov or AppsForDemocracy)
• outbound sharing, i.e. sharing information with people outside the government, including the public and other nations (such as the use of Twitter by some executives and congressmen).

The paper goes on providing a good analysis of the relevance of social software, looking at a number of cases where it has been used during protests, acts of terrorism and social unrest, exploring some of the security implications, and advocating the need for a more strategic approach.

What the report does not say is that, in spite of the neat classification above, many uses of social software will escape that classification. The boundaries between internal and external as well as between known and unknown will blur and will keep moving. Employees will be using tools like LinkedIn and Twitter to network among themselves, across agencies and with external partners and stakeholders, and their professional and personal network will overlap and support each other.

Any strategy for social media in government need to focus on individuals rather than organizations.