Seven reasons why civil servants should use social media, John Fitzpatrick, The Guardian

Seven reasons why civil servants should use social media

https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2014/nov/28/seven-reasons-why-civil-servants-should-use-social-media

John Fitzpatrick

It will be a while before this becomes the norm, but there’s a lot going on to encourage more public servants to use social media. I recently created a quick survey, which had over 100 responses, to collate views on why civil servants like to use social media. Based on the survey and my own experiences, here are seven reasons why I would encourage public servants to use social media, along with some advice on how to do it.
1. It’s easy to get startedMy social media skills are still limited but the more effort I put in the better the outcomes, and it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it. Digital tools are usually very accessible and designed to be easy to use. This guide by Mashable on how to get started on Twitter is very comprehensive and the Government Digital Service’s guide to free internet tools is also useful.

2. It’s instantI promoted my survey via Twitter, and within a day 800 people had viewed it. Just a few minutes on social media can provide access to hundreds or even thousands of people. There are digital tools that record and analyse results; the days of collating and re-keying paper survey results are thankfully over. And for Twitter, the character restriction makes you think about what you really want to say, which is a time-saver for everyone.

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