By: Sara
R. Dickson, MPA candidate, BS/BA, AS/BA
Sara R.
Dickson, MPA candidate, BS/BA, AS/BA, is currently serving as special events
coordinator for the National Newspaper Association. She has served as a
legislator assistant for the Missouri House of Representatives, administrative
assistant and Veterans Certifying Official for Columbia College—Jefferson City.
Working at a Rapid
Pace
Downsizing,
rightsizing, layoffs and cutbacks… in times of recession, all sectors (private,
public and nonprofit) are at a higher risk for experiencing a reduction in
employees. However, unlike the private sector—where if demand drops, supply
eventually drops and it is plainly understood that the company will simply
cease to exist—in the public and nonprofit sectors, the job must go on. The
public expects, and rightfully so, to continue to be served as long as the
department or organization is funded and administratively charged with a
mission. Yet, those who survive and remain often find their job description
expanded to include the tasks of those who are no longer employed. Practical
training, association memberships and trade publications are vital to effective
and efficient public service, but with departmental budget cuts, often these
areas get slashed first. This effectively removes public/nonprofit managers
from their wide spectrum of information network loops, leaving them overworked
and in a silo of whatever limited forms of communication and training are
spared from the chopping block.
Further, negotiating budget cutbacks is often out of the question or ineffective (for the nonprofit, donors may be overtapped) and this leaves these public and nonprofit administrators searching for any and all free or inexpensive tools that are available to aid busy government/nonprofit professionals. They need fast, effective tools to connect with peers, colleagues, donors, volunteers and constituents, keep abreast of new regulations and legislation, and to keep a watchful eye open for job opportunities, should their job be eliminated next.
In the Private
Sector, Social Media is Becoming Increasingly Important
Here’s an example drawn from the private sector: CPAs should find some comfort in the expanding role that social media is playing and its significance in today’s professional (albeit private) networks. According to a recent report by CPATrendlines’ Rick Telberg (president and chief executive of Bay Street Group LLC), it is becoming increasingly important for CPAs to be informed of the various forms of social media available to reach potential employees and clients. In order to obtain an insider’s perspective, Telberg interviewed Tom Hood, chief executive of the Maryland Association of CPAs, and shares the following guide incorporating Hood’s advice regarding “the new world of social media for CPAs”:
- LinkedIn is a professional’s version of
Facebook, a social networking site for business professionals and groups.
Hood calls it a great place to start as CPAs. It works on the “six degrees
of separation” concept. Hood’s network has 229 “trusted connections,”
25,000 second-level connections (friends of friends), and 2,057,400 third-degree
connections.
- Plaxo is another business and
professional network much like LinkedIn. It’s a great way of keeping up
with changes in people’s contact information and current activities. Both
Plaxo and LinkedIn provide a method for CPAs to exchange referrals and
recommendations, which Hood calls “a very useful application.”
- Facebook, long the preeminent
application for college students, is fast going mainstream. “I am seeing
many CPA firms and employers using Facebook to reach the college student
community,” Hood says. “There are also business groups and many other
‘social’ uses of Facebook for many areas of special interest.”
- MySpace has evolved into mainly a high
school and music social networking site. Hood sees less use for CPAs on
this site than any of the others.
- Twitter, the micro-blogging site, asks “what are you working on?” and your answer has to be in 140 characters or less. Hood says, “I have made more valuable connections on this tool than any other. I have also found a vibrant community of CPAs, CFOs, regulatory watchers, and others who provide amazing insights and information about a lot of important accounting topics. Did you know the SEC is on Twitter? That certainly got my attention.”
According
to their website, CPATrendlines has more than 400 people “following them” on
Twitter. That’s a substantial number.
The Public Sector Should Consider Pros and Cons of Social Media and Plan a Gradual Transition
The public and nonprofit sector is in the infancy stage of recognizing there is such a thing as social media and has not yet discovered or set down best practices for its use. However, it is still important for public and nonprofit managers to consider how they might best implement such a tool for enhanced communication, transparency and outreach between the agency and its staff, volunteers, clients and the public. It is a good idea to first perform a cost-benefit analysis and then plan a gradual transition. The current trend suggested by many advertising and marketing publications is to use a mix of traditional and social media to reach consumers/clients with the agency’s message. It is also important to recognize there is a massive shift toward low-cost marketing campaigns (namely, e-mail) that are causing electronic communications to lose their effectiveness in communicating with the public due to the flood of communications competing for the recipient’s attention.
Final
Thoughts and Questions
There
are many potential negative and positive externalities (costs) involved with
social media implementation in your agency/organization:
· How much time will be
spent on social networking that is not job-related? How can or should this be
monitored/measured?
·
What
are the rules of proper etiquette in this new dimension of cyberspace? If a
“friend” request is ignored, what are the personal and professional
ramifications for government employees?
· What is the policy
impact of using the tool of social media for public agencies? (that is, legal
ramifications, privacy violations, inappropriate release of confidential
information)
Other
thoughts? Ideas?
This
essay represents the views of the author only, and does not necessarily
represent the views of the National Newspaper Association or any other entity.