Comments on: Consultation Update

By: waugaman.org » Blog Archive » builiding a nose for news

waugaman.org » Blog Archive » builiding a nose for news — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:24:44 +0000

[...] What is needed is more inline with Simon Berry’s work with Pageflake (found courtesy of DavePress) dedicated to Hazel Blear’s recent work around the Government’s Empowerment White [...]

By: The need for community managers | DavePress

The need for community managers | DavePress — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:21:48 +0000

[...] to online projects started by government or any other organisation. This certainly chimes with a comment Steph made on this blog talking about the success of the recent online consultation exercise [...]

By: Neil Williams

Neil Williams — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:10:48 +0000

Thanks for your support, Dave. It’s counter-productive (and very easy) for social media evangelists to criticise government’s baby steps in this area. Teams like mine and Steph’s are pushing this agenda from within, and helping officials and ministers deal with this new way of receiving and responding to feedback. The points you’ve raised above are all grist to our mill, and repeat the advice we have already given. A helpful post.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:19:40 +0000

The role of a community manager – or similar – is indeed absolutely vital, Steph. Indeed, many of the things I pointed out that CLG could be doing would fall into that remit.

Think I have a post brewing on this topic, actually…

By: Steph

Steph — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:10:22 +0000

Nice analysis, Dave.

Both projects are still in their infancy, but I think it’s only fair to point out some of the unfair advantages DIUS has in this case:

- a dedicated Community Manager who has spent time identifying who is active online on these issues, and can sit with policy officials as they work out what they might respond to and how to approach it – and someone who can moderate comments quickly so they don’t get stuck in the system

- specific policy ideas for readers to respond to, because Innovation Nation is a White Paper rather than a more open-ended consultation. Specific stimulus often tends to elicit more comment, as I learned in my years in market research!

- a ready-made stakeholder list we could mailshot on launch day to invite them to respond to the interactive doc (many of them responded to the initial consultation in the autumn too)

I’d underline that the value of a Community Manager to bridge the gap between officials and stakeholders or those discussing these issues online has been enormous for us. As government starts to engage in new ways, I hope we start to see more Community Managers embedded in policy teams combining the skills of strategic comms, digital literacy, training/coaching, and stakeholder engagement. I think that’s how we’ll really change government communication online.