Here's a new guide to government 2.0, designed to offer success strategies for applying proven social networking principles within the government and military, just in time for the Open Government and Innovations taking place next week.
Social media and networking web sites, along with successful social learning communities, provide powerful examples of the principles that government and the military can apply to their social learning programs. Principle #8 is outlined below:
Principle #8 - It's a Service
A major difference of intranet communities versus social media or social networking sites is that users come to the communities because they want something. Users are likely looking for information or need a solution to a specific problem. As such, the organization needs to keep in mind that the community is a service and the community's goal is to provide the best possible service to users. For example, if you include questions and answers as part of your community, you need to ensure that people are successful by treating it as a true service. Mechanisms need to be in place to ensure that unanswered questions are addressed, questions are routed to the right people, and new answerers are enlisted. That many questions get answers, how many are "good" answers, and how long it takes for users to find answers.
Watch the video of Andrew Chambers talking about measurement - he has run community and social networking initiatives for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and is now Technology Director for Northern Lights Canada.