Government Agencies Go Google+ - Government - Information Management. Since Google released Google+ Pages for businesses and organizations earlier this week, government agencies have been rapidly creating Google+ accounts.
(click image for larger view) Slideshow: Obama's TechTools With the arrival of a Google+ option aimed at businesses and organizations this week, numerous federal agencies, among them NASA, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the National Nuclear Security Administration, quickly joined the Google+ bandwagon. The agencies have joined Google+ with the help of Google+ Pages, a service to facilitate businesses' and organizations' participation in the social media service. Google+ and other social Web platforms give agencies the opportunity to connect with taxpayers and other constituencies and help agencies better meet the spirit of the Obama administration's transparency initiatives. [Once reluctant to use social media, the Marines have done an about face. More Insights. Mobile Website or Mobile App? How to Choose. Having a defined purpose and creating a unique mobile experience for the user are two of the top priorities government agencies should keep in mind when developing mobile apps and mobile websites, according to a new study.
The report, Mobile Development Guidelines for Government Agencies, provides several best practices and an analysis tool to determine if a government agency should focus on creating a mobile app or a mobile website. It also evaluates 30 government apps currently available on iTunes and gives recommendations on how to build a successful mobile experience.
Published by White Horse, a digital marketing agency, one of the study’s major findings is that the federal government often focuses too much on putting mobile applications online, but neglects the experience users have when using them. Reese called it the “wouldn’t it be cool if” factor — acceptable as a source of inspiration, but usually not good enough a reason to put an app into production. Why I Squirm at Being Called a Social Media Expert. Last week, I attended an excellent seminar on social media.
As is typical, I couldn't keep my mouth shut during Q&A time. My comment was tweeted by 3 people before I even sat down, and people on stage kept talking about me as an expert and about EPA as a social media leader. I appreciate the kind words, but every time that happens, I get squirrely. Don't get me wrong; I love that EPA is out there with social media, and I take some pride in helping push us there. But, as I tweeted from the seminar: "Every time someone refers to me or EPA as leaders, I think of the things we still don't know and still aren't doing.
" Simply put: I'm concerned that people will hear "EPA is a social media leader," then look at what we've done and how we do it, and think that's the right thing. It's very very very very very very very VERY important that no one draw either conclusion because every agency is different. In sum: what EPA does is directly related to our situation, and yours may be different. Agency Web Improvement Plans. As part of the .gov reform effort, agencies shared their current web improvement plans to help identify where they can streamline web operations and improve customer service.
These are baseline plans; agencies will be required to update these plans in Spring 2012 to align with the Federal Web Strategy to be issued in early 2012. First Fridays Product Testing Program. The DigitalGov User Experience Program, formerly known as First Fridays, teaches federal employees how to make their products and services more user-friendly.
A product of GSA's DigitGov program, the User Experience (UX) Program focuses exclusively on improving federal digital products such as websites, mobile sites, and APIs. What We Do We offer four services to federal agencies, all at no charge: Usability Training for Federal Employees Focused workshops and webinars help you conduct User Experience activities like audience research, task analysis, and usability tests and evaluations. Community Building Our federal usability Community of Practice promotes the use of usability testing in all its forms (lab-based, hallway/quick testing, prototype, free form, etc.) and for all products (desktop, remote, mobile, API). Usability Tests and Evaluations For high priority sites, our educational tests and reviews show you how to find and fix problems and inefficiencies.
Speaking Opportunities.