This blogger just received an email that added up to an unfortunate joke. The email consists of a press release that starts out like this:
City of Oakland Launches Social Media Strategy with a Twist
New Oakland Facebook Page an Instant Hit
And then goes on to read: "The City of Oakland, CA has ventured into the world of social media by launching a new
Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/kJsg2B) “where people who live or work in Oakland connect with each other to discover and share all that makes our city great.” After just a few weeks, the page is already nearing 2,000 fans who are eagerly sharing commentary on topics ranging from arts, culture and family fun to expressing support for local businesses and standing up for Oakland when overlooked or maligned. The result is a robust community dialogue emanating from legions of fans passionate about Oakland.
If a "social media strategy" consists of one Facebook page, then there are millions of social media strategies, just because some Joe Blow started a Facebook page. The main problem, to cut to the chase, before I continue, is that a social media strategy is much more. I've talked about this before:
And even though the video's geared toward the individual, the rules can be easily adopted for any municipal business like The City of Oakland.
What's really sad is that my friend Samee Roberts, the City of Oakland's Marketing Director, went out and put her name on this really, really, tearfully terrible approach. Well, I guess I have to get after a friend, so be it, but Samee informs is that the City spent time and money conducting a survey to tell them they needed a Facebook page!
I'm not kidding, and I'm really disappointed in Samee here. And Karen Wertman, of the consulting firm "Indelible Branding" had the never to make this statement:
"We wanted to make sure that every decision about how to proceed with social media was informed by what matters to people who actually live and work here. We found that as a whole, Oaklanders are incredibly passionate about their city and feel bonded by that appreciation."
It took a survey to learn that?
Oakland's social media strategy is a massive sham if this is all it is. Samee just emailed and said it was a start; that's good.
Just the other day, I looked for Oakland's Twitter page, and that photo on the left shows what I found.
That's right, the photo reveals a Twitter page with zero tweets, and no followers. An apparently someone had started the thing recently, because the page has one Twitter account followed: that of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. Other than that, the page reads:
@cityofoakland hasn't tweeted yet.
Then, when I checked
Twitter Grader, I learned that the City of Oakland's Twitter page has been in existence for 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days.
So someone at the City of Oakland started this Twitter page and basically never maintained it, except for following Mayor Quan.
Wild, man.
I am not going to spend this space giving the City of Oakland free consulting work, and there are those within the City walls who think that when I give advice I'm telling them everything I know, or so other friends hace told me.
Heck, I remember Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty saying to me "thanks" for the "free" Coliseum website advice he thinks I gave the County way back in late 2001. Then, on the urging of then-Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb, I applied to be the Coliseum Executive Director, even though, given the players involved, I didn't expect to get the job.
I saw Scott at the Coliseum box during an Oakland Raiders game that year, and of course the Supervisor couldn't resist being a Smart Alec to me at the time. I didn't have the heart to tell him he got very little out of what I wrote, because he was being so nasty to me at the time.
Sorry, no love from me - I've been around too long - just the truth. We have to do better.
And that something better should be a task force. There are so many people in Oakland who already DO social media well, why hire a consulting firm? A task force is better.
And in closing, something else.
Since the World discovered Twitter and Facebook, I've seen an alarming number of old media-oriented organizations send out press releases on their "social media strategy" only to be
hammered by the tech community, of which I'm a part - even have a
CrunchBase Profile.">CrunchBase Profile.
The one rule is, if you're new to tech, and don't know what it means to be "disrupted," then stick your neck out to say "Look at me. what do you think?," get ready to be disrupted.
City of Oakland, you've been disrupted.
Of course, I expect the attacks from "anonymous" using whatever they can come up with; so be it.
Stay tuned.
