I know BBI has a huge contingent of "get off my lawn" types, who think that social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) is lame and isn't for them. While I don't consider myself part of that group (like most, I have a Facebook account), I do have to say that government agencies (both federal and state) should be a bit more careful when they set up official social media accounts.
I've seen Twitter accounts maintained by various military units getting into ridiculous "tweet fight" with suspected terrorist organization Twitter accounts, and it wasn't pretty. And the social media accounts set up by the CIA has been a huge source of embarrassment.
Latest is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tweeting out Kim Kardashian-related tweet. Not sure if whoever is the social media manager at the EPA forgot that they were signed onto the official EPA account when they started playing the Kardashian game or if someone is just that brain dead. But it's definitely a face-palm kind of a mistake.
An errant Kim Kardashian-related tweet from the EPA's Office of Water earned some Official U.S. Government Agency Attention on Tuesday morning.
"I'm now a C-List celebrity in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Come join me and become famous too by playing on iPhone!” said the initial Monday-night tweet, which included a link to the crazy-successful game app that launched in June with the reality-TV diva's endorsement.
The curious tweet stayed live for about three hours and had Twitter abuzz for hours.
"Whoops…our bad. Sorry about tweet. Upside - more attention for the Office of Water (http://water.epa.gov ), thanks @KimKardashian," the Evironmental Protection Agency branch wrote Tuesday morning.
See: Even when she's not directly involved, Kardashian has a way of shining a spotlight on things. Including things as unglamorous as a faceless organization "working for clean water for all Americans." |
Go home EPA! - (
New Window )
David Spade.
Yep...thanks for missing the point.
Organizations getting into pissing contests or actively writing embarassing statements is worlds different from some intern forgetting to log out of the EPA Twitter account on their phone and hitting the Share button in a mobile game.
One is "be careful... log out"
One is "be careful... don't say immensely stupid or embarrassing shit"
Organizations getting into pissing contests or actively writing embarassing statements is worlds different from some intern forgetting to log out of the EPA Twitter account on their phone and hitting the Share button in a mobile game.
One is "be careful... log out"
One is "be careful... don't say immensely stupid or embarrassing shit"
So you didn't miss the point...read your one sentence comment too simplistically. My apology.
Bingo. My point exactly with all of these government agencies using social media to promote their agencies and their actions. Unless it's needed to collection intelligence or data, the whole concept of government agencies using Twitter or Facebook or whatever seems...amateurish to me. But that's just my opinion.
I'd never log on to the Ops Twitter account on my phone, though.
Quote:
Didn't miss the point (do you think it was hard to miss?), just didn't find this to be an example of anything more than what I wrote.
Organizations getting into pissing contests or actively writing embarassing statements is worlds different from some intern forgetting to log out of the EPA Twitter account on their phone and hitting the Share button in a mobile game.
One is "be careful... log out"
One is "be careful... don't say immensely stupid or embarrassing shit"
So you didn't miss the point...read your one sentence comment too simplistically. My apology.
I have a Twitter and a FB account but get off my lawn anyway. LOL.
sure, goofiness can be found on twitter, but it has already become a powerful and important tool for connecting people and delivering information.
during hurricane sandy, twitter was the BEST source of info as I followed the power companies and local municipalities to keep me informed on what was going on
during the recent mh17 disaster, the networks basically got all their images, information, and insight through twitter accounts. I saw cnn essentially just say "here's what they're saying on twitter" for the first 48 hours.
Should agencies like the CIA and EPA be running accounts? of course they should. (CIA is a bit trickier due to the secretive nature of the agency, but even so, having one isn't a bad idea) Some have questioned the tone of some offical tweets, but they are simply trying to effectively connect with a younger audience using a slightly different language.