Everything Local
Government Officials Need
to Know about Blogs and
Social Media
Lee Aase
Chancellor, Social Media University, Global
June 2008

About Lee Aase
Political Science, B.S.
14 Years in Politics and
Government at all levels
Campaigns and Government Offices
Congress
Minnesota Senate
Ramsey (MN) County

Answering Your Questions
Why should I care about
social media?
What are social media?
Should we get engaged?
How can I get started?

Agenda
Surveying the changing media landscape
Overview of Tools
Mayo Clinic as a Case Study
Dealing with Detractors and Positive Applications
Share your stories, Seek advice
Demonstrations, Getting Started with Guinea Pigs
Facebook (Personal Profile and ICLMA Group)
Blog
YouTube Video

Changing Media
Landscape
Massive newspaper
layoffs/buyouts
Star Tribune
Pioneer Press
Los Angeles Times

Star Tribune Values
1998: $1.2 billion
2006: $530 million

One Huge Contributor

And exactly how do
newspapers compete?

The Most Important
Word in Web 2.0

Chicago Tribune Values
2000: Buys LA Times
for $8 billion
2007: Sam Zell buys
Tribune (with Times)
for $8.2 billion

Media Values
Wall Street Journal = $5 billion
Chicago Tribune = $8 billion
Star Tribune = $0.53 billion
Total for all 3 < Facebook
($240 million for 1.6 percent)

Facebook Growth
> 70 million active users
Growing an average of 250,000/day
since Jan. ‘07, or 3 percent/week.
Active users doubling every 6 months
> half outside of college
> half visit site daily and average 20
minutes/day of use

Overview of Tools
Blogs
Podcasts
RSS
Social networking sites
Wikis
YouTube
Twitter
del.icio.us

Intro to Blogs
Just an easy-to-publish Web site that
allows comments
Blogs in Plain English, Lee LeFever,
Common Craft

RSS = Really Simple
Syndication
Lets you easily track dozens
of blogs or other web sites
Ping = electronic Whassup?
RSS “baked in” IE7, Safari
Google Reader, Newsgator,
Attensa are free options

Podcasts
TiVo for Audio (and now video)
Don’t need an iPod
Series of segments to which
you can subscribe via RSS
iTunes free for PC or Mac

Social Networking Sites
MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn

Wikis
Collaborative editing tools
Wikipedia the most famous
2.2 million articles in English
Definitive stories quickly on
35W Bridge Collapse
Virginia Tech Massacre

Wikis

YouTube
“The world has voted, and we
have decided we want to
watch videos on YouTube.” -
Andy Sernovitz
Google bought for $1.65 billion

The LeeAase Channel

The LeeAase Channel

Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
News Media Syndications

Mayo Clinic Social Media Plan
Reach people directly
Started with Medical Edge
Produce economically to fit each medium
Provide platforms for sharing
Create outposts on popular sites
Energize word of mouth
Leverage social media with mass media and
vice versa

First Foray in New Media

Criteria for New Media
Consideration
Strategic fit, cost-effectiveness
Cost, complexity of production,
including staff, physician time
Usability for patient web site
Can it be tailored to the user?

Step 2: More, Longer
Podcasts

Step 3: podcasts.mayoclinic.org

Mayo Clinic Channel on YouTube

Getting Started with
Blogging
Personal blog since July ’06
Asked to Develop Public Affairs
Department blog in Dec. ’06
How do you do it without IT
Support?

Wordpress.com Private
Blog

Wordpress.com Private
Blog

Mayo Facebook Members
10/8/07

Mayo Facebook Members
4/8/08

Practical Tip #1: Facebook Fan
Page as Story Idea

Practical Tip #2: Facebook as
Crisis Communications Tool

Practical Tip #3: Secret Facebook
Groups for Team Collaboration

Dealing with Negative
Posts and Blogs
Start by monitoring through:
Technorati.com
Blogpulse.com
Google Blog Search
Subscribe to alerts via RSS or e-mail

Negative Blogs vs.
Negative Posts
Remember the 1:5:10 ratio for unhappy
“customers”
Carefully evaluate “Determined Detractors”
Prominence, Credibility, Traffic
Answer charges by other means, including
your own social media vehicles
Don’t wait to start social media until the crisis
starts; that’s too late and you lose credibility

“The Solution
to
Pollution
is
Dilution”

“Your kids are not
smarter than you are.
They’re just not afraid
to look dumb.”
-- Lee Aase, Chancellor, Social
Media University, Global (SMUG)

How can you practically use
social media to meet your goals?
Blog or Facebook for support groups, internal
communications
Facebook fan page, ads, secret groups
Twitter to activate crisis or leadership team
Wikis for collaborative editing
Podcasts internally or externally
YouTube - Tell Your Story
Anything you’ve seen from Mayo examples

Immediate Application
Get a FREE RSS reader, subscribe to feeds
Get iTunes (FREE), subscribe to podcasts
Start a FREE personal blog
Open a FREE YouTube account and upload a video
Try Flickr or another FREE photo service
Get Audacity to record audio FREE
Open a FREE profile on Facebook and “friend” me

Get SMUG
Social Media University,
Social media for lifelong learners
Free Tuition (Room & Board not incl.)
Google Lee Aase or SMUG University to audit
classes, apply for admission