As Simon Dickson reports - with useful commentary - 10 Downing Street have started their own channel on YouTube, with a video from Tony Blair congratulating the new French president , in English (100,206 views), and French (196,497 views). The channel includes non-PM items too, including a film from a competition run by Blue Peter and Downing Street to produce a view of 21st century life in the UK (440 views).
Now via ICELE Online I see local authorities are starting to use social media and online campaigning tools ... at least when their current status is threatened.
District Council leaders in Somerset have joined together to launch a petition to support a campaign against Somerset County Council's proposals to create a single-tier council across Someset. The District Council's have launched a petition on the Number 10 website which to date has received over 900 signatures. View the petition online. A 'hard copy' is also being made available in shops, offices and other buildings all over Somerset. The District Councils have also launched a short film on YouTube to support their petition. View the Video online.
I'm sure we'll see far more use a social media by government in future, guided by the review that civil servants and Tom Steinberg are carrying out. Tom is currently looking for examples of civil servants or other officials engaging online in other people's user-created sites. I can't think of anything immediately, but I would join Simon in congratulating one civil servant on creating his own online presence:
A warm welcome to Jeremy Gould, the Department for Constitutional Affairs’s internet development manager, who has just started his first ‘work blog’. Jeremy’s got a hectic couple of days ahead, as DCA transforms itself into the new Ministry of Justice (which still sounds really odd). The new site goes live on Wednesday, and Jeremy promises ‘a vast improvement on the current incarnation, both in visual look, quality of editorial and technical build’. He’s actually doing some remarkably brave stuff for a civil servant… indeed, I can’t immediately think of any civil servants who put their name to a blog about their work. Hope he doesn’t get told off for it… disclaimer or no disclaimer.
I think these examples are important in their own right, and also in providing some examples of what's possible to the overwhelming majority in government, local and central, who haven't yet picked up on the potential of social media. Jeremy has comments open too: I hope he gets some encouragement.
Cheers for the encouragement.
Posted by: Jeremy Gould | May 09, 2007 at 10:04 PM
On civil servants blogging; there's Owen who's on sabatical at the moment but otherwise works for DfID.
At a local level the head of environment services in my neck of the woods has a blog too.
Posted by: Andrew Brown | May 10, 2007 at 07:17 AM