Thanks for the heads up.

I

Rush for signup to 10 Downing Street feed … I could liken it to funding the Third Sector. For example new funding is announced and meeting to tell all is convened … many people turn up of which 75% are only there because they smell the money, its the other 25% that want to see it make a difference that matter.
The comparison … rush for early adoption on 10 Downing Street feed is it because people have a sniff that the hallowed office will throw out some really meaty news and the hype causes more to follow so they don’t miss out?

I went for HMGOV as it is more about where i’m at – I’m one of the 25% that cares about all the news and press releases in that feed (thanks Justin!) and how these can impact my work and those of the Third Sector, Communities and Local Groups that I work with.

Perhaps this is a Central Govt / Third Sector comparion that doesn’t quite fit … just my 2p’s worth.

Still uneasy about Twitter being used for direct newsfeeds as its takes away the personalisation aimed for by the “What are you doing?” question, however there is a place for a service proving simple mass market opt-in feeds of news … what I wouldn’t want Twitter to become was overloaded with Spam feeds offering news from TV shows, or worse Spam feeds. I guess as you have to opt in it won’t happen but I do foresee us all getting swamped with “Busty Sarah” and “Pills Unlimited” want to follow you requests!

Paul Webster / watfordgap
NAVCA – ICT Infrastructure Support and Development

Next, being an early follower has one advantage when it comes to patronage – the eyes of the most influential are quite(most?) likely to be on a project at it’s launch, so jumping on it then may catch their eyea. I don’t want to sound too cynical because I’m not, yet I do think there are interesting questions around politicians and civil servants using the social web and people seeking the benefits of being connected too them. Especially if we can persuade them to use the web more as individuals rather than institutions.

I think useful paralells are found between the guidelines for civil servants and the bbc guidelines on using the social web, llargely because journalists are expected to be named individuals, even though they are acting on behalf or a corporation. These were comparisons made by a number of folk during the civil serf shennigans.

Try

http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/?p=1901

I agree that it should be about govt individuals rather than organisations, hopefully this is a step in the right direction to make that happen.

I was quite flabbergasted that they didn’t claim 10downingstreet (which fits in with the website).

There are interesting possibilities in giving an alternative viewpoint (which would be following the precedent of what happens – for example – on number10.org.uk).

scottishgov simply follows on from some mild satire I did when they pulled the rebranding stunt in the first place.

Justin thanks for the comment and congrats. It’s interesting to see your motive for the HMGOV feed – as a personal tool which others can share (and presumably to encourage experimentation in Govt).

That undermines my argument that particular tools are supposed to be personal. In truth they should be what we make of them and what they will let us use them for. Just because a hammer is intended for bashing nails doesn’t mean it won’t almost make a might fine doorstop.

I do though think the cultural argument of govt individuals rather than govt organsiations on the social web will take a good while to sink-in.

I actually built the HMGOV twitter feed. For me it was something that I needed because I like to use twitter and wanted to keep track of government press notices. Its not an official Gov product but I know that there are a couple of people in government that are using it – and have subscribed to the RSS feed.

Your points about patronage are spot on – unfortunately I don’t quite have the pulling power of the Prime Minister.

It will be interesting to see how this develops. I was quite surprised to receive an email from the downing street service to say they are now following me, so perhaps there really is the potential for this to be about dialogue and not broadcasting.