Social Media at EPA and Beyond

Featuring Oscar Morales, Director of Information Technology and Resources Management Division, Office of Pesticide

Programs, U.S. EPA

Moderated by Kathleen Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at ClearedJobs.Net

Young AFCEA Bethesda Presents: The Federal Technology Virtual Podium Webinar Series

A Special Thank You to our Sponsors:

Sponsorships still available, please visit our website for more details: www.afceabethesda.com/youngafcea

The 2011 Federal Technology Virtual Podium Series

June: Data Center Consolidation

August: Cyber Security

September: Cloud Computing

October: Organizational Change/Change Management

Agenda Welcome-Vanessa Meccarielli, YAFCEA Programs Chair

Introductions- Kathleen Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at ClearedJobs

Oscar Morales, Director of Information Technology and Resources

Management Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. EPA

Question and Answer Session – Kathleen Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at

ClearedJobs.Net

Closing Remarks-Vanessa Meccarielli, YAFCEA Programs Chair

Why We Integrate Online & Offline?

Defense and Intelligence Community◦ Niche community

◦ Strong word-of-mouth sharing

◦ Face-to-face relationships preferred

◦ Positioning as “local”in the defense community

◦ Establishing a consistent,unified presence

What We Do

Social Media at EPA and BeyondOverview

Social Media/Web 2.0 is (still) “all the rage” How can federal agencies utilize these new

opportunities to:• Get our message out?• Bring people in?

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Uses of Social Media Out in the real world, social media has many

purposes• Stay connected…

• Facebook

• Tell your story…• Blogs, twitter

• Bring people in (collaboration)…• Wikipedia

If you have teenagers in your family, ask them

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Uses in the Federal Government

Departments and agencies are “experimenting”• NASA, cool stuff on space exploration• DOD, entertainment and social connections

for troops

Agencies are developing general guidelines for use, but we are still largely experimenting

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Social Media Useful for Feds• Opens doors: New ways to get messages out and

to establish connections with citizens

• Feedback: Informal ways to receive input

• Sharing: Interesting content gets shared by

readers across their social networks

• Dialogue: Transforms traditional one-way

communication to a two-way interactive dialogue

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Uses in EPA EPA is also experimenting with social

media tools• General guidance issued• Many experiments underway

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Using Social Media at EPA Facebook Blogs Wikis Twitter Youtube Widgets Mobile Applications

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Popular Social Media

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Webcasts

And much more…Podcasts

Blogs

RSS

Facebook Social networking website

• Collects ideas, comments and opinions• Far reaching audience• Combines features of blogs, RSS feeds and

Flickr

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EPA Facebook Page

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Blog Author creates entries that are viewable to public Ordered reverse-chronologically

• EPA shares information• Public can comment on entries• Easy access; user friendly

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BlogGreenversations•Written by EPA Employees and occasional guests

Enabel the Label (OPP)•Exchange of information and ideas related to the labeling of pesticides

Wikis

• Website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser

• Collaboration• Everyone is “on the same page”

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Wiki

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OPP Internal Wiki

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Watershed Central – Public

Twitter Micro-blogging service

Information is available instantaneously Establishes groups with common interests Short messages - 140 characters

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EPA Region 9 Twitter Profile

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YouTube Video sharing

Organized by channel (user) or community Users can comment on videos

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EPA’s YouTube Channel

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Widgets

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An application that can be executed and installed within a web page by a user

Quick & easy access to information Easy to replicate

EPA Widgets

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Environmental Tips - Shows a new tip each day, of something you (and your readers) can use to help protect the environment

UV Index - Enter your ZIP code to get the daily UV Index forecast

Envirofacts - Search several EPA databases for information about environmental activities that may affect air, water, and land in the U.S.

Mobile Devices

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• Websites made compatible for smart phones

• Information “on-the-go”Example: • Design for the Environment (DfE) Application – Safer products labeling

Other EPA Experiments RSS Feed

Social Bookmarking

Flickr

Challenge.gov

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Pending Issues/Questions Upkeep/maintenance of tools can be resource

intensive-full time webmaster. Policy can be difficult to write/enforce. Existence of a “divide” between users and

skeptics. Sometimes unreasonable expectations when

government is one of the SM users. Some debate on whether SM is IT,

Communications/Outreach and/or both. Trust still important-employees/public.

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Closing thoughts… Sometime in the near future we will

transition from the “experimentation phase” to a more integrated and strategic way of using social media tools• Overall direction• Goals, measures, and outcomes• Refinement

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More information Oscar Morales

• morales.oscar@epa.gov• 703-305-5440

Latest on Social Media at EPA: www.epa.gov/epahome/socialmedia

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Question & Answer

Thank you to our moderator, Kathleen Smith of ClearedJobs.Net!

Participants: to ask your question, press *1

Upcoming Young AFCEA Bethesda Events:

THE FEDERAL TECHNOLOGY VIRTUAL PODIUM SERIESo June Webinar Topic: Data Center Consolidation

o Sponsorships Available! For only $1,500 and includes: o Each sponsor will be assigned the webinar (topic/speaker) of their choice where they will have 2-3 minutes to tell the audience

what their company is doing in that specific area (i.e. cyber). The sponsor will be moderating this webinar as well — introducing the government speaker, facilitating Q&A, etc. Topics are chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis.

o Sponsors will have the chance to assist the Programs Committee in reaching out to potential government executives for upcoming webinars.

o All sponsors will be included on all of the AFCEA flyers, newsletters, email blasts, website, etc. for each webinar..

7th ANNUAL CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENTSAVE THE DATE for Monday, June 13th, at the Hidden Creek Country Club located in Reston, Virginia. Proceeds will benefit University of Maryland and Montgomery College IT scholarship funds. Registration and sponsorship details are coming soon.

4th ANNUAL SENIOR GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE DINNER

Young AFCEA Bethesda will host our 4th Annual Senior Government Executive Dinner on Wednesday, July 27. This evening provides a venue for informal conversation between government and industry leaders to discuss the latest topics in government IT and communications. The evening will begin with a reception where attendees will have the opportunity to interact with all of the government leaders. Dinner will follow, with one senior government executive seated at each table.

If you’re interested in getting involved with YAFCEA Bethesda, please visit our website or contact Vanessa Meccarielli at vmeccarielli@mlog.com or 202-746-7776 or Stewi Downer at anne-stewart.downer@ngc.com or 202-942-8930.