Stephen Hale

Head of Engagement, Digital Diplomacy

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Wednesday 29 July, 2009

Twitter guidance and the Foreign Office

It's been fascinating to watch the UK government Twitter guidance story play out in the press.

"Official publishes thorough guidance document" doesn't seem like a story that should attract popular attention. Nor does the subject - corporate Twitter channels - really represent new or novel opportunities for government digital engagement.

We published a Views on News blog about the evolution of the Foreign Office approach to Twitter so I won't repeat what we said there. If you're interested in how the Foreign Office is using Twitter now, you can follow us on one of our channels.

Corporate Twitter channels are fine, but I think it's more interesting to see how individuals (like John Duncan) are embracing the medium for their own benefit, using Twitter to engage in conversations with niche communities of interest.

Posted at 10:59 29 July 2009 by Stephen Hale  |  Comments[4]

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Hello again, Stephen Hale - wish I had time to study all the FCO.GOV.UK twitterisation. What I always find difficult in workstation cognitive 'keeping up with the Twitters' is in following most of the Twitters per se, i.e. within their small "text boxes" on page-spreads; moreover I have ditto difficulties in writing-up into corresponding 'Post a Comment' boxes, while still in assurance that none has listened into my pearls of limited applied wisdom. Experienced ditto in exams. However Congrats: myguide has co-improved for me!

Posted by Stefan Peter. on August 05, 2009 at 04:43 PM BST #

Congratulations on improvements to Your Comments!

Posted by Stefan Peter. on August 10, 2009 at 02:44 PM BST #

"Corporate Twitter channels are fine" <- thought this was a fair comment, Stephen. Corporate twittering can only go so far in creating a more interactive organisation; it's when the people start engaging individually that the most exciting things start to happen.

Posted by Neil Williams on August 23, 2009 at 08:16 PM BST #

It's an odd one, because Twitter is used to update people on thoughts or feelings of an individual. When used by companies it's used as an advertising medium for products or offers. Celebs use it to let their fans get closer to them. I don't see any of these uses being appropriate for a politician. They could list the topics they've discussed, but not their thoughts on that meeting which is what people would really be interested in.

Posted by Alan the iPhone 3GS fan on September 05, 2009 at 12:45 PM BST #

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