Social Networking Tools & Services Committee

[Issues] [Resources] [Committee Members]

The Social Networking Tools & Services Committee was formed at the request of the Nebraska Information Technology Commission (NITC) to address the use of social networking services by State of Nebraska entities. Such tools might potentially be used by state government entities for the purpose broadcasting agency news, marketing its products or services to the public, or just expanding its contact base.

Some Issues for Consideration

How does the NITC Acceptable Use Policy address use of these tools and services? Is further clarification is needed in the policy? Which, if any, social networking services currently meet the criteria set out in the NITC Acceptable Use Policy (MySpace, Facebook, Yammer, Ning, Xing, LinkedIn, Flickr, Goodreads, Twitter, etc.)? Are state agencies eligible to use the services of NITC's "Network Nebraska" for social networking purposes?
What potential dangers/restrictions should government entities be aware of when considering marketing their products and services using social networking tools?
What account settings are recommended for government entities that want to use these tools? E.g.,
- Accepting comments from everyone, or just those with "friend" status?
- What security settings are recommended?
- How can government entities maintain content on such sites for purposes of records retention?
One-way communication (broadcasting) versus two-way communication (true "networking")
- Limiting use of social networking tools to one-way communication (broadcasting) might be a good way to avoid a maintenance and records retention nightmare. For example, a state agency that uses multiple social networking profiles (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) might be able to use a feed service such as Friendfeed to upload news items posted on the agency web site's rss feed or blog into each of its social networking profiles automatically and effortlessly (create once, use many).
- Could two-way communication (true "networking") result in a perfect (practical and legal) storm due to maintenance, security, and records retention issues?