PA Times article on the use of social media during the 2012 election

I wrote up a short piece about the impact of social media in the 2012 election. It will come out in print this month and I wanted to share it here as well.

Election Night Watch Party at the Maxwell School (2012)

Election Night Watch Party at the Maxwell School (2012), a set on Flickr. As part of my “Social Media and the 2012 Election” I organized an “Election Night Watch Party” together with many student volunteers in the Strasser Commons at the Maxwell School. We had a great line up of speakers who provided insights into

New book: “Social media in the public sector field guide”

Today, my co-author Bill Greeves and I received our first copies of the “Social media in the public sector field guide” we wrote for all newcomers to the productive and professional use of social media in government. We started to work on this project in 2011 to capture the legal, procedural, and contextual challenges that

Government finding a measured voice on social media

[originally posted on NextGov.com] Social media is here to stay. There is no question about that, especially after Facebook reached 1 billion users and Twitter surpassed the 500 million-account mark. What is less clear, however, is how government organizations can respond to the changing communication demands of citizens who want government to use social media

New book published: “Social Media in the Public Sector”

I am excited to announce the release of my first sole-authored book: “Social media in the public sector“. It will be officially introduced to the public at the annual NASPAA conference in Austin, TX, on October 18, 2012. The book is based on my research that started about three years ago. My initial interest started

Using social media as an elected official

On September 19, 2012, Bonner Gaylord, City Council Member, City of Raleigh, NC, shared his insights on his use of social media during his two election campaigns and his tenure as a city council member. Mr. Gaylord focused on innovative tools such as Twitter and the issue reporting site SeeClickFix.com to reach out to citizens

#SocialCongress: Brad Fitch, CEO, Congressional Management Foundation reviews social media use by Members of Congress

Bradford Fitch, CEO and President of the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), joined the “Social media and the 2012 election” class earlier this semester to share insights from a new report on the use of social media by Members of Congress. Mr. Bradford talked about the many different channels offices are using to respond to their

Finding the “Real Romney” on social media

The task for this week’s assignment was a social media analysis of the online channels, the content, types of message the Romney campaign is using. The students had to evaluate what insights they can gain from the observed social media interactions. A key question was: Does the use of social media create a social connection

Will the ‘Real Romney’ please stand up?!

Tonight, Maxwell School’s Campbell Institute hosted journalist Michael Kranish, The Boston Globe, and author of “Real Romney” as part of the State of Democracy lecture series. The expectation of many audience members was to get a behind-the-scene view of presidential candidate Romney by an insider who has researched and covered him for over 18 years

#GangnamStyle – Creating online audiences even-though they don’t understand a single word

How are messages going viral in today’s social media economy? Who picks up content and is willing to spread a video or a statement through their own social network? This week, the Ellen Degeneres Show picked up a music video by the South Korean artist Psy and it is now quickly spreading in the U.S.