Facebook Privacy Settings

I’m reading a lot in the blogosphere about the new Facebook privacy settings. The jist of it is that unless you really know how to tweak your settings, Facebook will be publishing a lot more of what you write and what you’ve posted (your photos, profile info, etc.) I recommend you treat Facebook as a public website or blog, and do not post anything on it that you wouldn’t want the world to read. I’ve always treated it that way. Take some time to learn about the settings because the default they’ve set up for you is not very private.

Iphone usability

I’m learning a lot about the iPhone. Next up: how to do PowerPoint on them, and video skills.

I’ve Gone Over to the Dark Side and Gotten an iPhone

I’ve resisted and I’ve fought it. I don’t like Apple and I still don’t. I’m not a Mac, I’m a PC. But this iPhone 3GS is really a tiny computer I can carry with me and do a lot of stuff with, regardless of where I am. I don’t want to be a Luddite, so I have succumbed because I believe this is the superior smartphone out there. I tried out the Droid, BlackBerry, HTC Tilt and several others; they are not as powerful. I can even have a tiny Tweetdeck on it. And… I can blog on it! There’s a WordPress app out there.

My complaints: Everything goes through the iTunes store. I hate iTunes and I hate the hooks they put in your system. I mean, I had to enter my credit card number to download a free app! That’s ridiculous. Apple seems very controlling to me.

Also, there’s not an easy way to get the default apps off of it. I am going to attend a class in a couple of weeks to learn more, and getting the default apps off of it will be one of my first questions. For example, I have no need of the stock quotes app. I can move them around but not delete them. I moved them to “page 2″ but it irritates me that they are still on there.

Backing up Facebook Fan Pages

There are new tools cropping up to back up your Twitter account, such as tweetake.com (free). And to back up your Facebook profile, there is Socialsafe.net and Backupify.com, two paid services. But what about Facebook Fan Pages? For businesses, best practices dictate we archive something of this importance. Facebook is like a big mailing list of our customers and shareholders; we wouldn’t dream of not having a backup. Especially for municipalities, which may be called upon to produce records of what was said for open records requests.

I checked with both Socialsafe.net and Backupify.com on whether they back up Facebook Fan Pages. Both said they do not currently do so, but have plans to do so in the future. Backupify.com went a step further with their explanation:

The short answer is that we will soon.  The longer answer is that Facebook has two methods to pull out data.  Social Safe uses Facebook Connect.  The other is the actual Facebook API.  We use both.  To pull data off a fan page, you have to build an application that runs in Facebook and attaches to the fan page and uses the API.  We have one built and it is going through quality assurance testing.  It will launch before the end of the year.  If you would like, I can notify you when that happens.

–Rob May, Backupify.com

I’ll post here when I find out they have launched this new functionality. If anyone knows of another application that backs up Facebook Fan Pages, I’m all ears.

Smokey and the Bandit – and Twitter

In my talks with groups about social media, many people will say they just “don’t get” Twitter. I came up with a fun analogy that seems to bring it home for most. I ask people how many remember the movie “Smokey and the Bandit” and the CB radios they used in that movie. Because of that movie, many thousands of people began using CB radios. Sometimes it was to find out where Smokey was hiding, but sometimes it was just to chat and while away the time on a long trip by talking with strangers who were on the road too.

In the same way, Twitter allows you to “listen” to conversations about all kinds of things, some boring and inane, and some extremely interesting. Twitter is popular for the same reason CBs were. And you can screen out the idiots by solely following interesting people. I don’t follow people who tweet about their breakfast. I follow people I admire, who can teach me things I don’t know.

Social Media for Municipalities: Challenges and Possibilities

Gave a talk on social media this past Friday to an interesting group called “City Managers Study Group” up in Dallas at the Wyndham. They are city managers from all over Texas. Talk was “Social Media for Municipalities: Challenges and Possibilities.” You can download it on my website at http://www.carlapendergraft.com, click on “Speaking Engagements.”

We had a lively discussion on the special pitfalls and issues that municipalities face with social media. Open records requests, open meetings issues, network security and many other issues must be faced.

Yet, citizens are demanding that we engage with them in these new ways. Department heads are demanding access for legitimate employee needs. While it would be easier just to say we as a city won’t “do” social media, maybe a better approach is to gather the key people at the city who can help formulate a strategy that protects the city while allowing cautious use of the new media. The City Attorney, City HR Director, records retention staff, IT, and others can help with this strategy.

The City of Midland has come up with an excellent approach. If you go to their city website at http://www.ci.midland.tx.us/, there are the usual Facebook and Twitter icons, but instead of jumping straight to the social media fan page, they go to a Terms of Use statement that asks the visitor to accept or decline some basic terms prior to going to the page.

Of course, one can search on Facebook for the City of Midland fan page and go to it directly, but they also have a link to their terms under their profile badge. Go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Midland-TX/City-of-Midland-Texas/166892983177?ref=search&sid=720313994.4210718436..1. If you want to see their terms for using social media, click here: http://www.midlandtexas.gov/terms.html. They preface the terms with this language:

In using www.MidlandTexas.gov or any other social media application (e.g. Nixle, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc.) that is maintained by the City of Midland you are deemed to have read and agreed to the following terms and conditions.

What an ingenious approach. My hat is off to Midland, Texas!

Social Media for Municipalities

I am starting research for an article I’m writing for Texas Municipal League’s Texas Town and City magazine, on social media for municipalities. There is a dearth of information out there on this subject. Barack Obama’s campaign made great use of social media to spread his message, and as President, he has continued and expanded that use. My research is showing that the federal government is leading the way for local government. The stumbling block for them was that the terms of service (TOS) were unacceptable. So they negotiated new government-wide agreements with Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, and other providers. Read more about this process here. GSA has created a place where gov’t agencies can go to sign up for these apps that now have “federal friendly” terms of service. Go to apps.gov to read more.

Here’s an excellent overview article – the “Yellow Brick Roadmap: Five Examples of Getting Gov 2.0 Done

So, that being said, what about state and local governments? Each state seems to be making its own way. Washington State has a good wiki on “Social Web Handbook for Washington State Local Electeds”. This wiki covers some of the legal questions that should be contemplated such as the issue of elected officials posting on each others’ pages, and records retention guidelines. While each state may have a different response,  this handbook lays out some important considerations for any local elected officials.

If you have found other material along these lines, please drop me a line at carla.pendergraft@gmail.com or simply post a response here on my blog.

“Official” title on Google

I got a question recently, “How did you get the Google search engine results page to say, “Welcome to the Official Facebook Page of the…” Good news! I didn’t do anything special other than create a Facebook business page. Facebook automatically inserts this text somewhere where Google then picks it up. As long as you create a Fan page (also called business pages), you’ll get this same moniker!

Cameron Park Zoo

I’m at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas, working with them to set up their Facebook business page and their Twitter feed. Hopefully you will see a Cameron Park Zoo blog soon as well!

IFEA ‘09

We are at IFEA ‘09 in Indianapolis and learning all about WIKIS!