Results tagged “email” from Reach the Public

Welcome to our second installment of the"Friday's Food for Thought" post where we take a light-hearted (and we hope funny) approach to what's happening in government-related news.  This installment's theme is about the new NBC show "Parks and Recreation."

Parks and Recreation Show Funny, But Real?  I think not.
We are the first to admit that Amy Poehler does a great job playing a bumbling and often confused bureaucrat helping run a department of parks recreation in the city of Pawnee, Ind. She takes a Michael Scott (from the NBC hit, "The Office," played by actor Steve Carrell) approach and always has a good heart, but seems to be awkward and have very poor judgement.

However, as an organization that works with state and local government across the United States, we believe this portrayal is far from the truth.  In fact, there are many local government agencies doing many progressive and forward thinking things that are far from bumbling.

For example, Idaho Game and Fish is especially committed to keeping its citizens and out-of-town visitors updated on new fishing and hunting related information.  And another DNR doing swimmingly well..Wisconsin DNR.  They send out updates on over 25 different fishing topics!

And then we have Texas Parks and Wildlife.  TPWD updates the public on state parks, destinations, fishing and more...  None of these examples reflects the obtuse or clueless antics of the Parks and Recreation show.  But, we can still find the humor right?  

Speaking of fishing, it just so happens that this weekend is opening fishing for Minnesota.  Thousands of people will pack up their fishing gear and head out for the lake first thing tomorrow morning. MN DNR sold over 256,000 licenses as of Wednesday.  

Now that I've reminded everyone that fishing opener is tomorrow and I've checked that 'to-do' off my list, it time to check out a promo clip from Parks and Recreation.  Enjoy and have a great weekend.  Bobbers down!

Like any other commuter, the last thing you want to encounter on your way to work is slow moving traffic or a delayed train.  Whatever the reason for the delay - an accident, the weather, or road construction - you simply don't want to deal with the frustration or hassle. 

Getting traffic alerts through email or text messaging helps commuters make informed decisions that allow them to save time, fuel and traffic congestion.  (and maybe a little frustration too...) Signing up for these types of alerts allows commuters to get up-to-date information that is relevant to their commute, allowing them to make informed decisions about alternate routes or transportation. 

With more than 68 million people using their mobile device to get information (according to comScore), getting route information on mobile devices is just another convenient use of technology.  Individuals can sign up to get alert emails or text messages sent directly to them, wherever they are.  Check out Santa Clara VTA for instance.  Here you can choose YOUR specific route information, whether it's by bus, light rail or shuttle service and get email updates.

This is an email that Santa Clara VTA sent out about an accident that affected the light rail trains.

If you have a "this is cool!" commuter alert story, please share it!

When someone follows me on Twitter, I get an email letting me know. I usually take a quick look at their profile and maybe an update or two to find out if I know the person and may want to follow them.

 

If someone wants to friend me on Facebook or leaves a comment on my "wall," I get an email from Facebook. I make a note to myself to respond later.

 

If someone signs up for a group on GovLoop, I get a note. Or, if someone makes a connection on LinkedIn, I get yet another email.  If you comment on this blog entry... you guessed it, I'll get an email letting me know. 

I think you get the idea.

 

There's no question that email is the hub of social media. Email is the No. 1 use of the Internet according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, used daily by more than 60 percent of Americans.

 

Many Americans use social media applications, but they can't spend all day logged into those communities. So services like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter understand that they need to use email to keep their audiences engaged in conversations.  In many ways, my email inbox is the ultimate "mashup" of my entire online life across many social media applications.

 

I've recently interviewed Web Managers at several major federal agencies and cities to learn more about where they see the connection between email and social media in the public sector.  There are some exciting ideas and some easy ways to make the email updates governments are sending to the public a key enabler  and "hub" of the social media initiatives that different agencies are pursuing.  

 

We'll be posting our specific ideas on this soon, but where do you see the opportunities?

 Email is the Internet's Killer App. Use it well.

 

To many, email communications seems like  "yesterday's news."  Even though we here at GovDelivery have been working with federal, state, and local government on improving email communication with the public since 1999, we still get excited about email!  As our marketing director, I want to share how we're helping clients leverage email to promote blogs, support Twitter, and utilize other social media.  I want to brag about what our clients are doing in the area of collaboration and Web 2.0.

 

When we step back and think about how we can best help government communicate with the public effectively, email rises above every other opportunity for two reasons.  First, it is ubiquitous.  Our clients care about reaching people and email is the number one use of the Internet by a landslide.  Second, there is still a lot of room for improvement. 

 

One stat from Jupiter suggests that citizens spend over 80% of online time using email.  It has become such a part of daily life that its dominance simply doesn't make headline news. 

 

The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a new report on daily Internet activity. Although the focus of the report was the growth of daily search activity by Americans, the report showed an astounding 60% of Americans use email every day. Search has grown to 49 percent, from about a third in 2002. But the author calls email "arguably the Internet's all time killer app:"

 

And just last month eMarketer released survey data showing the digital channels preferred by various age groups. Email is used by almost 53% of Americans to share information about a new product or service with others, second only to face to face communication and ahead of phone calls. Email is also the preferred digital channel for all purposes in every age group with the exception of young teenagers, who prefer text messaging where social communication is the priority.

 

So if email is the channel of choice of the majority of Americans, the question becomes "how well does your organization "do email?"  If you're wondering how you're doing, read through this document that was shared at the Federal Consulting Group's Proactive Communication Roundtable earlier this year: http://tinyurl.com/govd1 .

 

Consider this:

 

Do you do a good job of offering and promoting all important topics by email?  Are you offering subscribers many choices?  Are you promoting your new types of content (blogs, videos, social media content) by email (http://tinyurl.com/govd13)?  Are you treating your email subscription links like "add to cart" links and promoting them on your site?  Are you following the lead of NASA, EPA, and others by allowing citizens to signup for emails directly on your website (http://tinyurl.com/gddirectsignup).

  

Newer applications like text messaging and social networks like Twitter get far more attention. But for final measure, let's compare some stats.
Washington State Department of Transportation

Twitter followers: 2,411

Email subscribers: >28,000

 

Mayor of Minneapolis

Twitter followers: 984

Email subscribers: 7,498 (with >43,000 subscribed to all City information)

 

EPA

Twitter followers: <2,000

Email subscribers: >77,000 with 5,000-7,500 new signing up monthly

 

To top it off, it is much easier to track results and learn about your subscriber base with email than with many Web 2.0 channels.

 

RSS and wireless alerts are also very powerful, but when launched side by side with email, citizens prefer email at a 10-20 to 1 ratio over these other channels.

 

In fact, I'd bet that the Obama campaign and others found that email delivered the most tangible results in their campaigns for fundraising and mobilization.  They used other channels, but their most critical and reliable outreach seemed to be by email.

 

All of this is not to say that Twitter, Facebook, Texting, RSS, etc. do not have value.  They are amazing channels that build community, allow for direct conversations, and give citizens flexibility in how they will interact with government.  See how we use Twitter (www.twitter.com/govdelivery ).

 

However, the power of email for driving better communication with the public is unrivaled, and there are still many opportunities to use email better.  I suggest you treat email like the foundation of your digital communication house and treat other channels as nice additions that you can focus on when your foundation is strong.  If you focus too much on using new channels, you may fail to leverage the most powerful channel for public communication in history... plain old email.

 

I have the following rules for my use of email with colleagues, friends, and family:

• Avoid emails when I'm angry
• Avoid constructive feedback by email
• Avoid emails in the evening (Google has a new tool called Mail Goggles that forces people to do math problems before sending email in the evening so you don't email anyone while intoxicated)

This incredibly insightful video that should be required watching for the whole world really gets to the bottom of why email is not useful for many types of communication.

The main reason... drum roll please... email is good for facts and data, but does not carry the visual and emotional cues that are critical to human interaction and understanding.

What does this mean for government?

• For official communication (i.e., facts and data), email is unrivaled and is perfectly suited for the role.  You can see my previous entry on this.
  
• For citizen service, email is only useful up to the point where tone becomes important
• For internal collaboration and cooperation between offices and agencies, there is no substitute for in person and (as a decent substitute) phone meetings and conversations

I have a habit of returning my library books a few days after their due dates. I don't like the fines and returning the books late is disrespectful to other people on the waiting list. In order to make myself feel better (and save a few bucks), I signed up for the Hennepin County Library's email alert service because it promised to send me a reminder a few days before the books are due.

When the first alert arrived, I remembered the books sitting on my nightstand, but the most interesting thing about the email was the comment link next to each book. Clicking the link opened library's site and allowed me to write a review or leave a comment about the books for other library patrons to read.

The comment feature probably isn't new for the Hennepin County Library. Afterall, I have been writing and reading product and service reviews on sites like Amazon, Expedia, and Trip Advisor for years. The link did, however, remind me of an article I read in the most recent issue of Wired magazine (May 2008). In the "Information Overlord" article, the author discusses the virtues of a semantic Web applications. He writes:

"...sometimes social connections are less useful than semantic ones... My Facebook page attracts my friends, with whom I share social bonds. Meanwhile, my science blog attracts complete strangers, with whom I share a common interest in a topic... It's a semantic relationship, based on shared meaning."

The point is interesting and relates to the library link. When I'm planning a vacation, I read the customer reviews at Trip Advisor and Expedia. Before I buy a book, I read the customer reviews at Amazon.com. The library now provides the same convenience. Before I check out another book, I'll read other people's reviews before I spend my time on a book that won't meet my expectations.

While I trust my friends about some topics, books and vacations are a different story. I need to depend on my semantic relationships. Those real people who have already read the book will be more useful than some pretentious reviewer or uniformed friend.

Email is clearly the most efficient way for governments to reach citizens. According to David Daniels, Vice President of JupiterResearch, "87% of Consumers online time is spent reading their emails" (Dec. 2007).

Not surprisingly, most citizens use common operating systems, browsers, and email clients to register for subscriptions and read their email.

More than 95% of citizens registering for government subscription options hosted by GovDelivery use a computer equipped with a Microsoft Windows operating system, and more than 85% use Internet Explorer. The following chart shows the browser operating system combinations for one federal government department.

Email client and ISP choices are a bit more diverse, but there are still clear winners. Citizen subscribers, at a rate of 65.7%, receive government emails sent through GovDelivery at one of the top 5 email domains, including Yahoo!, AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, and Comcast. We can only assume that the vast majority of citizens are using the email clients provided by these vendors to read the messages, and not forwarding the messages to a separate email client, such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook. The following chart shows the ISP usage statistics for all GovDelivery subscribers.

The GovDelivery statistics are fairly consistent with overall US Internet usage. While it may be tempting to disregard the small minority of users who use Macintosh, Linux, or PalmOS, government serves everyone. When it is viable, I know that governments want to accommodate these users.

Accommodating email clients and operating system/browser combinations includes avoiding commonly unsupported content, like Flash, javascript (or other scripting languages), or large attachments. It also includes sending emails using common protocols, like Multi-Part MIME or Plain Text that most email clients can render. As technology evolves, and more citizens use more mobile devices to access their email, being flexible will be even more important.