Social Government

Without a doubt, lots of (read: unprecedented) progress was made in the government 2.0 world in 2009. We saw the first federal CIO and CTOs appointed, the launch of Apps.gov and even the White House embracing the open source Drupal content management system for their Web site.

At this pace, 2010 will be an even better year. This year is a major election year, with the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate up for election. In addition, 37 states and two territories will hold gubernatorial elections. This blog hopes to pay close attention to the government 2.0 promises made by candidates. Of course, our coverage will remain nonpartisan and unbiased.

So with an exciting year ahead of us, here are some predictions, in no particular order.

1. More and more state and local governments will embrace government 2.0 technologies. In 2009, we largely saw long-standing stigmas erased at the federal level as agencies continued to effectively integrate social media into their Web presences. Cities such as San Francisco and Washington were leaders at the local level. In 2010, we’ll see these state and local governments expand their presence on Twitter, and turn hard-to-use Web-based GIS systems into user-friendly Google Map mashups. But with budgets facing a crunch at all levels of government — especially at the state level — development will be at a slow pace.


Craig Newmark

2. Government 2.0 will receive more high profile endorsements. Craig Newmark, best known as the founder of Craigslist, is an exuberant government 2.0 supporter. While I don’t anticipate this being the top political issue of our time, more pressure from outside government will bring more attention to the cause.
3. More companies offering government 2.0 products will be on the ground in Washington. In 2008, Google opened their Washington office. Last year, Facebook followed suit. Lobbying for the adaption of government 2.0 across the federal government will lead to results. Will we see Twitter add a D.C. presence this year?
4. Improved outreach to state and local governments will take place. While I don’t expect Google to open a Juneau, Alaska, office and Facebook to open one in Tallahassee, Fla., companies will step up efforts to court these smaller sectors of government. We might see special Web sites created especially for this purpose, and possibly some new hires as well.
5. Any remaining barriers to government 2.0 at the federal level will be removed through the legislative process. While we pretty much saw this happen last year through the rulemaking process, the antiquated laws on the books preventing the adaption government 2.0 will be repealed in Congress. Why not?
6. Open source is open for business in D.C. and at all levels of government. Following the lead of the White House in choosing the Drupal content management system to power their Web site, government Web sites from D.C. and all across the country will recognize the benefits of open source: cheap, easy and fully customizable. Open source is budget-friendly and comes with a large pool of developers. Of course, security is always concern with open source, and could be a barrier to open source CMS deployment throughout government. But if it’s fit for the White House, it’ll probably work elsewhere.
7. “Ghost tweeters” will be unmasked. With more public officials using social media tools than ever before, the public will demand to know who is actually Tweeting, writing the blog posts and updating the Facebook statuses. Throughout government, there’s a mix of authentic tweeters (like Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.) and people who have ghost tweeters (like President Obama, who publicly acknowledged that he had never tweeted before). Officials should be required to disclose if they’re really the ones tweeting. It’s a form of government accountability.
8. More officials will do the tweeting, blogging and Facebooking themselves. Tacked on to the previous item, constituents will demand to hear directly from their public officials in social media. It does not take long to send a 140-character tweet or a short Facebook update, and it’s very easy to teach people how to do it. Really, I can find little excuse here.

Happy New Year! This blog is back for 2010, and will be celebrating its first birthday at the end of the month. Here’s to a great 2010.

Image of Craig Newmark by Sierra Communications

1. The Case For New Media
2. And We’re Back!
3. White House Strives for New Forms of Engagement with State of the Union
4. Obama to Do Some Social Media Name Dropping in Education Speech
5. Did Greg Craig Gag The White House Twitter Account?