Today was the pre-conference workshop for the ALI social media for government conference in Ottawa where I'll be speaking on Thursday.
Maybe because social media isn't the same uncharted territory it was a few years ago but this group seemed to be a more sophisticated crowd than I often encounter. It could also be that as (mostly) government employees they are used to procedures that are cut and dried, and policy matters that are complex and  where the answers often need vetting from 'higher up'. Social media for them has some obvious uses and other areas where it needs some careful consideration. They've already had to give this a lot of thought before they even attend a workshop or conference like this one.
Government or publicly supported organizations face some unique challenges:

• Everyone has a different view of how government should be run
• If it is public money, taxpayers often feel government employees work for them
• If the first 2 points hold true then keeping almost 34 million people happy even some of the time is a challenge

And aye, there's the rub Hamlet because the dream of social media could become a nightmare.

As Joe Thornley pointed out today in his workshop, social media is all about participation, influence as opposed to control, generosity and particpation.
Though it is a wildly overused term, social media is about the 'conversation'.

As social media gains ground and government joins in, what happens to the conversation? The to-and-fro could be endless as people look for a satisfying answer. It could take a room full of people to properly handle a Twitter stream, monitor Facebook pages, and let's not even mention blogs and the subsequent comments. For every satisfied taxpayer another one is going to log off irritated if not downright
mad. I don't know whether it will come up this week but the potential volume of the conversation could be enough to drown out any meaningful discussion.
That doesn't mean we should walk away from more social media. It does mean that we need to approach it carefully and with a well thought out plan.

There are already some solid efforts going on and here is a very small sampling to give you some ideas.

• Connect2canada http://www.connect2canada.com/  ( also on Facebook and Twitter )
• Government Loop http://www.govloop.com/  
• Gov IT Wiki http://www.govitwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page  
• Ombudsman of Ontario http://www.ombudsman.on.ca/ also on Twitter and Facebook 
• Alberta Education Minister Dave Hancock http://www.davehancock.ca/  ( on Twitter ) 
• Edmonton School Trustee Sue Huff http://suefortrustee.blogspot.com/  ( on Twitter )  
• Yukon Legislative Assembly Member Brad Cathers on Twitter http://twitter.com/BradCathers