Draft version of a checklist to help people get started in social media and establish relationships to help build a community.

1. Social Media Quick Start
Setup
Google Reader: Set up a Google Reader account for your organization
(http://www.google.com/reader).
This will be used as the hub to monitor social media activity
Twitter Search: Search on three terms relevant to your organization & add to
Google Reader (http://search.twitter.com/).
These terms could be the name of your organization, its acronym, issues relevant
to your mission or issues that are of particular relevance or importance. Multiple
word searches should use quotes. Click the "Feed for this Query" icon at the top
right to add each of these to your Google Reader account.
Google Alerts: Search on three terms relevant to your organization & add to
Google Reader (http://www.google.com/alerts).
These could be the same words as for the Twitter search but it alternate terms can
be used. Relevant settings should be:
Type: Everything – this will catch news, blogs, video, etc.
Deliver to: Feed
Establish a Twitter Account: Set up a Twitter account for your organization.
The Government Social Media Subcouncil Wiki has links to many good guidance
docs, including EPA’s Twitter guidance which can be found at
http://govsocmed.pbworks.com/EPA-Social-Media-Guidance-Documents
Execution (20 min/ day)
Monitor (10 min): Read through feed items in Google Reader.
If you don’t get through everything, mark the remainder as read. Watch for and
note individuals that are getting significant attention or appear to be either strong
advocates or critics of your organization or work.
Post (5 min): Post at least once daily on your Twitter account.
This could be new content to your Website, relevant articles in the news, events.
Engage (5 min): Find ways to interact and begin building community.
Example could Retweeting (RT) other accounts, finding new accounts to follow,
thanking new followers, thanking people for mentioning your organization or your
work.