ConnectedGeneration: Social Media Tools

My favourite tools for digital engagement Steph Gray, Head of Digital Engagement steph.gray@bis.gsi.gov.uk 020 3300 8166

How we’re using digital tools at BIS • Listening to public debate • Identifying issues and influencers • Gathering ideas • Evaluation and feedback • Understanding problems • Sustaining relationships • Prioritising areas for action • Extending communications • Bringing policy coalition together reach & span • Designing solutions • Rapid, cost-effective delivery • Refining policy proposals channels

1. Igoogle & specialist search tools • Personalised Google homepage - handy ‘dashboard’ for people to have on their browser • Used by Press Office to monitor mentions of ministers or issues on blogs or online news • You can add ‘widgets’ for anything from weather forecast to tool enabling you to send Twitter messages from your dashboard • Google Blog Search and Twitter Search enable you to get a live list of search results and plug them into your iGoogle page using RSS

URL: google.com

URL: blogsearch.google.co.uk & search.twitter.com

2. Delicious • Social bookmarking buttons are common on lots of website now - they let you save and share links to interesting pages you find • Delicious is one of the common services - works like your Favourites, but on the web rather than on your computer (great if you have separate work and home PCs) • You describe (‘tag’) pages you find with logical keywords, and you can see what tags other people have used • You can use a list of Delicious bookmarks and incorporate them into other sites, using RSS

URL: delicious.com

URL: sandbox.dius.gov.uk/digitalgovuk

3. Ning • Ning is like a website or a mini-Facebook in a box • You can set one up for free, make changes to the look and feel, and choose what features you want it to have - member profiles, photo sharing, forums, blogs etc • Great way to set up a community site for people to share things like photos, slides, links and have discussions about them • Handy for events: you can set one up to share the slides, notes, pictures and videos from the day, and continue the discussions online

URL: altogethernow.ning.com

4. UserVoice • Uservoice is an idea generation and voting service • You set up a page and invite customers, colleagues or anyone else to submit ideas (maybe service improvements, names for a new project etc) and comment or/vote on other people’s ideas • Ideas are shown in a list, with the most popular at the top • Easy way to engage people with a specific question and keep the discussion focussed • But set the scope at the outset - it’s open to abuse as people try and ‘campaign’ for an outcome or try and fix the voting - fringe ideas with a small but passionate following can often rise to the top • You can add a feedback tab or widget on your site

URL: uservoice.com

5. Wordpress • Two versions: • Wordpress.com: hosted blog service, where you can sign up and manage a free blog on their network • Wordpress.org: download the same blog software for free and install it on your own servers • Really flexible tool, can be used to host simple websites as well as blogs (e.g. the BIS corporate website) • Lots of modules and add-ons to add extra functionality are available free (e.g. star ratings, photo galleries etc)

URL: talk.dius.gov.uk/blogs/studentlistening

URL: www.bis.gov.uk

URL: www.hastingshastings.org.uk (personal)

URL: interactive.berr.gov.uk/lowcarbon/

6. Slideshare • Slideshare is a hosting service for presentations • You upload your presentation, and it turns into a widget you can embed on a website or blog • People can view and comment on the slides in the context of your website, without having to download them first • You can also track how many people have viewed your presentation

URL: slideshare.net/lesteph (personal)

URL: blog.helpfultechnology.com (personal)

7. Audioboo (& Twitter) • Audioboo is a (short) podcasting service, which mainly works with Apple iPhones • You use an iPhone app to turn the iPhone into a voice recorder, take a picture of the scene with the camera, and plot your location on a map. This is uploaded to the Audioboo service, and your podcast is published online • You can embed the podcast on a website, and/or post a link to it via Twitter - something which BIS Minister Lord Drayson has done when out on visits

URL: twitter.com/LordDrayson URL: audioboo.fm/profile/lorddrayson

The Magnificent Seven: • iGoogle (& specialist searches) • Delicious • Ning • Uservoice • Wordpress • Slideshare • Audioboo (and Twitter)

http://sandbox.dius.gov.uk Personal: http://blog.helpfultechnology.com Twitter: @lesteph

http://loadofcobblers.com	103
http://blog.helpfultechnology.com	101
http://loadofcobblers.tumblr.com	24
http://thunderfly.co.uk	12
http://www.slideshare.net	9
http://www.helpfultechnology.com	7
http://www.bis.gov.uk	2
http://web.archive.org	2
http://stagingweb.mercury.hosting.eduserv.org.uk	1
http://wpprez.posterous.com	1
http://www.netvibes.com	1
http://feeds.feedburner.com	1
https://stagingcms.mercury.hosting.eduserv.org.uk	1

ConnectedGeneration: Social Media Tools

by Steph Gray on Jul 12, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

13 Embeds 265

Statistics

ConnectedGeneration: Social Media Tools — Presentation Transcript