The numbers tell the story: 483 million people are on Facebook every day, there are 50 million daily Twitter users and one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second. Using social media and Web-based interaction tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is no longer a choice for public officials who want to remain relevant. Yet taking the Internet plunge can be daunting to say the least. Much has been made of ever-changing privacy policies and everyone has heard at least one nightmare story of a Facebook post or tweet gone awry.

On March 15, CSG’s National Leadership Center hosted a webinar, “Protecting Your Online Identity.” Brian Selander, a 2011 Toll Fellow and chief strategy officer to Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, outlined why the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to social media and shared some important keys to success that he has learned while crafting the online presence for many elected officials.

Selander built his case for social media’s value with the story of a single tweet that turned into a USA Today story highlighting Gov. Markell’s work. He also shared countless dos and don’ts for effectively using social media. For example, contrary to natural instinct, Selander says Facebook posts and tweets should not be “all about you.” He suggests praising other people’s work, highlighting interesting stories or news and sharing the occasional personal tidbit as necessary ways of increasing your profile traffic and humanizing your online persona.

In addition to Selander’s advice, CSG policy analyst Nathan Dickerson shared technical advice on optimizing control over your online presence through effective use of privacy settings and other online monitoring tools. Dickerson explained how to ensure Facebook apps don’t “post as you” and suggested ways to use Google Alerts and other tools to track when you pop-up on the Web.

CSG’s National Leadership Center provides a frequently updated resource library that includes social media primers and other informational materials to help officials effectively use social media and the Web to communicate with constituents.

CSG Resources:

• Electronic Communications and Public Records, February 2012
• YouTube Updates Terms of Service for States, January 2012

  Download the slides in PDF

Protecting Your Online Identity