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Do you have a handbook or anything similar to help steer you clear of trouble? You should before your team dives further into social media without boundaries.

Here’s what FCW had to say about the handbook: Navy releases social media handbook

The Navy has published a guidebook to encourage sailors and commanders to use social networks for routine and crisis communications and to offer guidance on ethical issues such as “friending” and “following” between officers and subordinates.

Acknowledging that social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer opportunities for Navy commands to interact directly with sailors, their families and the public, the 17-page “Navy Command Social Media Handbook” released Oct. 15 offers a series of tips, rules and ethics considerations.

“With fewer Americans having served themselves in the military, it is important for our service members to share their stories of service with the American people,” the handbook said. “Not surprisingly, this makes every blogging, tweeting or Facebooking sailor an ambassador for your command and the Navy.”

Edward O'Hare

For example, IT service providers can learn what the IT priorities are at the GSA by following the newly launched blog, ‘Great Government through Technology‘, started and managed by Edward O’Hare – Assistant Commissioner for GSA’s Integrated Technology Services (ITS) portfolio within the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS).

Another great one to follow is the HHS IT blog, Health IT Buzz, which is managed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

There are hundreds of places to “listen” to government executives sharing their priorities and challenges on blogs, on Twitter, in social networks and forums. Help them accomplish their goals and conquer their challenges and you will succeed in reaching your goals.

Follow the highlights of the press conference as they’re tweeted by the attendees. Links to be added later.

Better Buy Project: Better Buy is a joint project of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council in conjunction with the General Services Administration. The Project is an experiment dedicated to the belief that there’s a lot of room for improvement in the way government buys products and services.

Pic by @kellyolson of @BetterBuyProj team members @marydavie, @ltrudeau, @estherburgess talking with @jmgovit of @fednewsradio at #elc09

Some great information being shared especially for those of you who are not yet on Twitter either because you’re a skeptic or not quite sure what to make of it yet. I’ll be culling the mountain high pile of tweets and posts and pulling out the golden nuggets of info I find and doing my best to find uses for government contractors.

If YOU have ideas on how Twitter can help the government improve how they procure goods and services or how government contractors can benefit please email, Tweet me, or call!

It took eight years for GovDelivery  to reach the one billion email milestone and they reached that billion email milestone already in 2009 alone. That’s momentum! Read about that and the rest of this excerpt from a blog post on NY Times about GovDelivery:

Another under-the-radar company that could be poised to reap the whirlwind is St. Paul, Minn.-based GovDelivery Inc., which has been in stealth mode since 1999, and just last week closed a $2 million funding round from individual investors. GovDelivery has developed a communications platform that enables government agencies to provide information to citizens via email alerts, text bulletins and widgets.

The company, which has reached cash-flow breakeven, provides data services for the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Health Department, MediCare, federal transportation offices and other departments.

“This year has been by far the best year ever for us,” said Scott Burns, GovDelivery chief executive. “Since 2001, the government has sent two billion emails through GovDelivery. One billion of those have been sent in 2009 alone.”

Source: Big Government Means Big Business For Data-Sharing Start-Ups

Marc Hausman

An interesting blog post by Marc Hausman of Strategic Communications Group got me to thinking. In his post he admits that one of their social media campaigns is not delivering on all 8-cylinders for their client. Although results are far ahead of expectations when it comes to creating awareness and positioning they fell far short of expectations in generating leads.

Exploiting one of the primary advantages social media affords companies, it’s adaptability, Marc’s firm has decided to add a Webinar into the mix in an effort to communicate more formally with the social media “audience” they’ve established. Trying to convert Webinar attendees into actual prospects is a far cry easier than herding the cats roaming across social networks, the twitter-verse, and elsewhere online. It’s a great idea.

Marc went on to explain that clients want and expect measurable “results” from their investment in social media. I don’t blame them for trying. The problem is in setting realistic expectations. I don’t believe anyone can predict how valuable engaging with clients and strangers on social media platforms will ultimately be for any given company.

Communicating via social media is akin to “being there”. By that I mean the same “being there” that you experience when attending a conference, trade show, or professional networking event. There must be great value in “being there” or no one would invest the time and money it requires to attend these offline networking opportunities. We’ve all heard the phrase, “it only takes one new client…”.

So my advice to Marc’s clients is to be patient with efforts to position your firm as one that is an industry leader and active member of the community. As long as you are doing no harm, keeping your investment within your comfort range, and continuing to see growth in connections, subscribers, attendees, etc…, it should prove to be a better investment than any traditional form of media can deliver.

Marc’s blog: Strategic Guy

Follow Marc on Twitter: @StrategicGuy

“GovLoop has been called the Facebook® for government, because it helps people across government collaborate and solve real problems every day,” said GovDelivery CEO and co-founder Scott Burns. “Steve Ressler has led GovLoop’s explosive growth and we are excited to have him continue leading GovLoop. With GovDelivery’s resources and expertise, GovLoop’s growth will continue to accelerate and help spur social media adoption in government.”

GovDelivery assists government’s in leveraging digital channels and social media to improve communication to the public and collaboration between government agencies and employees. Currently, between 10,000 and 100,000 new people signup to receive updates to government information each day via the GovDelivery platform. The GovLoop social network should compliment GovDelivery’s offering nicely.

Internet users spent 17% of their time on social network and blogging Websites in August. This is up 300% from August 2008. Users are connecting, communicating, and sharing like never before causing this extraordinary growth.

If you or your company is one of the holdouts it would behoove you to take notice. Like the printing press, pony express, telegraph, telephone, and email social media is altering the way humans communicate in ways not foreseen just a couple of decades back.

Link: http://en-us.nielsen.com/dropdown/news/news_releases