There’s been a lot of talk about transparency and collaboration in Government lately and some of you may be wondering if it’s just all talk, but there is clear evidence that the tools, technology and ethos of Web 2.0 are making headway in the Government space.

Here are some websites that are using Web 2.0 tools to communicate with the public and within Government:

1. The White House: If you want to see a leading example,  look no further than the White House website.
2. The Collaboration Project: This site, created and maintained by the National Academy of Public Administration, is a great window into how different Government agencies are using Web 2.0.
3. GovLoop: This social networking site for Government workers, contractors and anyone interested in Government boasts thousands of participants and has a very robust online community.
4. GovTwit: This Twitter directory lists agencies and Government personnel using Twitter.
5. Young Government Leaders: This Drupal site is a social networking community for Government workers (and up and coming leaders) under the age of 40.

These websites are only a small sampling of how Web 2.0 is being used within and without Government circles. Use these links to connect to other sites and examples of how Government is using these powerful new tools to better engage with the public and within Government agencies.

Do you know a parent who is always criticizing his child, yet complains of not having a good relationship with that child? Or a boss who nitpicks her employees and wonders why productivity is so low? It is one of my fears that I would become that parent or that boss and it is this fear that led me to read “Whale Done” by Ken Blanchard one lazy summer afternoon. The title refers to the positive-reinforcement method used to train Sea World’s killer whales, known for their  acrobatic leaps and bounds.

Blanchard contrasts the “Whale Done” approach with what he calls the traditional “GOTcha” approach used by many managers. Under “GOTcha,” managers’ primary focus is catching their employees doing something wrong. Under the “Whale Done” approach, managers focus on praising employees for work that was well done and redirecting negative behavior in an attempt to change the environment of the workplace. By redirecting, the poor behavior is ignored and the employee’s energy is redirected onto another task that can set up a positive response. It is important to note that the praise must be genuine because your employees can tell when you are being insincere. A manager who recognizes his/her employees’ efforts, builds trust, accentuates the positive, and redirects when need be helps eliminate negative interactions and poor performance.

Based on the simple fact that when people feel good about themselves they produce better results, the “Whale Done” approach allows you to change your environment by first changing your communication toward your employees. As you change to a praise-oriented management approach, your employees will change in response, resulting in a cascading effect. So ask yourself, “What type of environment do I want to create around myself; one centered on criticism or praise?” While it is easy to wish for change in your workplace, it is important to recognize that change must start somewhere, and what better place than to start than with yourself? For more information on this change in communication, visit Blanchard’s website at http://www.kenblanchard.com/.

As an avid Facebook user, I occasionally find myself evangelizing about it to friends who just don’t see the point. “I already know what’s going on in the lives of the people I care most about,” they say. Sure, me too. But the value of Facebook is that it provides such an easy, quick way to tap into a much larger network of acquaintances (former classmates, coworkers, weak social contacts, etc).

Why does this matter? Because my close friends and family are a “closed loop,” to some extent. A larger network exposes me to many more ideas, events, and interests than my close group participates in. With a quick scan of my Facebook home page each day, I can see links and commentary on all manner of news and events. I am frequently pleased to find acquaintances who are well versed in issues I care about, and who offer insight and information I would otherwise have missed.

Facebook can help organizations build community, as well. I’ve been involved with the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) since 2001, maintaining their websites (westonaprice.org and realmilk.com), editing literature, and assisting with research. The organization promotes nutrient-dense food, grass-based farming, and local food systems. Happily, over the past year with the explosion of Facebook usage, many foundation members have friended each other and we’re now able to learn faces to go with the names. What’s more, we can get to know more about each other outside of our focused posts on our email lists. In an organization like ours with over 400 local chapters dispersed around the globe, often in isolated rural areas, building virtual community, sharing ideas, and feeling connected to others who are working toward the same goals, is vital.

Many people who use Twitter brag about their huge number of followers.  Some have tens of thousands, in fact, and follow thousands in return.  Depending upon your purpose, however, high follower numbers may be meaningless.  It’s the quality of followers that counts.

If your purpose is to learn and share as much as you can about green living, for instance, you’ll want to follow those who share information about this subject, and build a list of followers interested in living green.  Those trying to sell you a Bubblewash (or most anything else) probably won’t help you achieve your purpose and you may not want to clutter up your newsfeed by following them.

Here are five tips to help you maximally learn, share, and influence with Twitter:

1. Focus on one subject or several related subjects.  Don’t try to be everything to all people.
2. Provide value by posting substantive thoughts and links on your chosen subject matter, particularly during the times your key audience is on line
3. Put key words in your tweets and your bio to attract like minds; and follow those interested in your subject by doing your own key word search regularly
4. Retweet (RT) posts on your subject matter and repay those who RT you with a thank you or, better yet, by RTing them — if you want to be RTed, remember to keep your tweets to under 110 characters.
5. Build your own targeted newsfeed and ”tribe” by following those who tweet about or are interested in your subject matter.  Before hitting follow, check out their bio and last few tweets to see if you have a common interest.

To see an example, check me out at www.twitter.com/Bright_Builder. And feel free to follow me if we share similar interests:-).

I recently participated in a webinar provided by the Northwestern Alumni Association called “LinkedIn: Beyond the Basics.”  LinkedIn is a social network focusing on professional relationships vs. the typically personal connections of Facebook. While I had set up my LinkedIn profile some time ago and currently have 148 connections, I had really never done anything beyond invite the people in my email address book and accept any invitations to connect from others.

The webinar offered a number of helpful tips, some of the best of which are:

• Make sure your profile is 100% complete, the last step of which for most people is getting at least three recommendations. This is very quick and easy to do—just write up a short paragraph for each of three current or former coworkers and ask them to do the same for you.
• Update your status about once a week to ensure you appear regularly in the newsfeeds of your connections (update it with business related information—you’re not on Facebook! ).
• Join 5-10 Groups, with a mix of professional, alumni, geographical, and personal interest themes.
• Do a five-minute daily check in to read/respond to your newsfeed and check on your three most active Groups.
• Do a 30-minute weekly LinkedIn session to update your status, respond to your inbox, send invitations to connect, request/write recommendations, read/comment on Groups, and update information in your selected applications.

The webinar was developed and led by Northwestern alum David Fisher, president of RockStar Consulting and author of Step by Step Networking: Building Your Business One Relationship at a Time.  See his blog, The RockStar Success Library, for more ideas for business networking. For more tips on using LinkedIn, see the LinkedIn Learning Center and the LinkedIn blog.