In our last blog, we took a look at government agencies that are trying to promote transparency by using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. After that blog was published, we went back through the list of agencies and cross-checked all of them with groups and companies listed on the professional networking site, LinkedIn.
The results were staggering: nearly all of the agencies on the list, including the ones with low or no output on Twitter or Facebook, have active LinkedIn accounts. Some of these accounts have several hundred to several thousand connections. Given this revelation, we should no longer assume as we had previously that government agencies’ interactions with social networking sites are patently inhibited. Rather, they appear more focused on the human capital aspect of networking rather than actual reciprocal information sharing. The data seems to indicate that despite the agencies’ use of social networking sites, the intention is not to be social, but rather to network on a professional level.
The results were staggering: nearly all of the agencies on the list, including the ones with low or no output on Twitter or Facebook, have active LinkedIn accounts. Some of these accounts have several hundred to several thousand connections. Given this revelation, we should no longer assume as we had previously that government agencies’ interactions with social networking sites are patently inhibited. Rather, they appear more focused on the human capital aspect of networking rather than actual reciprocal information sharing. The data seems to indicate that despite the agencies’ use of social networking sites, the intention is not to be social, but rather to network on a professional level.
