OPEN

Spent some time with an interesting crowd divided between "geeks and government" at t Communities and Local Government (CLG) today discussing how Government will need to adapt in the age of networks.

One of the themes that emerged strongly for me was around the "understand your networks" imperative that I’ve discussed here before.

Government organisations need to spend time understanding their networks and their place in them in almost exactly the same way that brands and media owners do.

Understanding and listening to networks should be part of the the planning process for any Government project, consultation etc. And it should be part of the day to day business of the

I recall the Home Office has several people listening (monitoring) social media full time. Hopefuly their role is not just to support the communications department, i.e. supporting PR, but to bring insights to everyone they work with, from policy makers to people who design the customer journey to get a passport.

I see a lot more talk these days of social media roles arising in agencies and other organisations. Hopefully listening, understanding and sharing knowledge about what the networks are will be the major part of hat they do.

, webgov24