Prime Minister starting to leverage the influence of bloggers

Refreshments at #pmtea
Photo by @clementine_ford

Last Friday Prime Minister Gillard sat down with a group of influential female bloggers, online women's forum managers and journalists in, what I hope, is the start of an active engagement with online influencers by the Australian Government.

As a blogger I have been on the receiving end of irregular random unsolicited emails from Australian advertising agencies, that sometimes spam bloggers in the hope that some of them will talk about their latest client's products.

I don't know what they charge their clients for this 'service'.

However, to my knowledge, governments and government agencies in Australia have, with a few exceptions, largely ignored the existence and influence of bloggers.

There's also been limited research by governments in Australia into understanding the reach and influence of bloggers, and few attempts at integrating co-ordinated or long-term blogger outreach into communication and stakeholder engagement strategies.

That is what made #pmtea so exciting.

Gillard met with a group of online influencers for an hour or so. She had tea and refreshments with them and generally chatted.

There was no express policy goal or message, and it wasn't a focus group. However what it did was establish a relationship that will help the Prime Minister and govenment in the future.

A photo of #pmtea attendees from www.mymummydaze.com

The Prime Minister established personal connections with influential commentators. So now, whenever she has a message her government wants to get out to large numbers of Australian women and families, her office can include these bloggers in the 'media' distribution, even ask them for help in appropriate circumstances to counter inappropriate spin from traditional media.

When there is negative press coverage on something the government has done, will do (or has decided not to do), these bloggers will think twice before buying into the hype, balancing their views with their experience of her character and their personal connection with her.

This form of soft influence is vital for blunting criticisms aimed at governments and government agencies - just as it is for commercial organisations. Having reporters think twice and reflect, based on a personal relationship, before reporting, is how media advisors have influenced journalists for years, often resulting in more accurate and balanced stories.

Part of the breakdown between governments and media outlets has been due to the breakdown of these traditional relationships, which help commentators understand why decisions are being made and humanise the participants in every debate.

The challenge today for governments, Ministers and agencies alike, is to rebuild this type of relationship with a new form of commentator - influential bloggers. People who command directly, or indirectly, audiences in the tens or hundreds of thousands, making them potentially larger and more actively engaged audiences than those of many traditional magazines and newspapers.

I hope that now the Prime Minister has shown that it is possible and acceptable for (elected) government officials to meet and interact with influential bloggers we'll see agencies more willing to have their (appointed) officials doing the same.

Bloggers are not traditional stakeholders or lobbyists. They generally only represent their own views and are rarely backed by powerful commercial or religious organisations. However they directly interact with, reflect and influence the views of their audiences. They have reach, and they have a platform.

Agencies need to consider inviting them to their conferences, bringing them in as part of their stakeholder groups. involving them in their research and providing them with stories (not media releases) and content they can share.

In other words, agencies need to recognise the influence of bloggers, just as they do traditional media commentators.

And, most importantly, agencies need to read what influential bloggers write.

Here's a list of some of the coverage of #PMTea by blogs, forums and news outlets.

• Allconsuming: Morning Tea with the Prime Minister at Kirribilli House. I KNOW. - http://www.allconsuming.com.au/2012/06/morning-tea-prime-minister-kirribilli-house-i-know/
  
• Daily Life: The best time I ever met Australia's Prime Minister - http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-and-love/real-life/the-best-time-i-ever-met-australias-prime-minister-20120618-20iqh.html 
• Edenland: Julia Gillard, the Bloggers, and the Agenda. - http://www.edenriley.com/2012/06/julia-gillard-bloggers-and-agenda.html and Intagr.am - http://instagr.am/p/L3772TwVa5/
• Good googs: I made a joke and the Prime Minister laughed - http://www.goodgoogs.com/i-made-a-joke-and-the-prime-minister-laughed/
• Life and other crises: PM Seeks Sackville's Advice on Anxiety - http://lifeandothercrises.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/pm-seeks-sackvilles-advice-on-anxiety.html
• Lizosaurus: #PMtea -  http://lizosaurus.com/2012/06/pmtea/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Lizosaurus+%28lizosaurus%29
• MonetPaisley: PMtea - http://monetpaisley.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/pmtea.html
• MyMummydaze: Julia Gillard is more than just our PM - http://www.mymummydaze.com/2012/06/julia-gillard-is-more-than-just-our-pm.html
• Mummy time: The one where I got all huggy with Ms JG - http://mummy-time.com/2012/06/the-one-where-i-got-all-huggy-with-ms-jg/
• Parent wellbeing: Morning tea with the Prime Minister - http://www.parentwellbeing.com/blog/?p=4777
• Planning with kids: Morning tea with the Prime Minister - http://planningwithkids.com/2012/06/16/morning-tea-with-the-prime-minister/
• The Bub Hub: Morning tea with the PM - http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/entry.php?524-Morning-tea-with-the-PM
• WOOGSWORLD: White and one, thanks Jules. Part One - http://www.woogsworld.com/2012/06/white-and-one-thanks-jules-part-one.html
• WOOGSWORLD: White and one, thanks Jules. Part two - http://www.woogsworld.com/2012/06/white-and-one-thanks-jules-part-two.html

News outlets

• Sydney Morning Herald: PM gets more than a cuppa and a catch-up as mummy bloggers spread the goss - http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/pm-gets-more-than-a-cuppa-and-a-catchup-as-mummy-bloggers-spread-the-goss-20120617-20id2.html#ixzz1y6maaERf
• ABC Radio 666 Canberra: The World Today - http://www.abc.net.au/canberra/programs/webcam_radio.htm?ref=listenlive

For all online community managers - register now for Swarm 2012

Last year was the first Swarm in Sydney- part conference and part peer support network for online community managers.

The event is returning this year in Melbourne on 13-14 September, bigger and friendlier.

The website is now live, with early bird rates to attend.

One of the highlights of Swarm this year will be the presentation of the results from the first ever Australian and New Zealand Online Community Managers' Survey.

I'll also be presenting on quite a controversial topic.

See you all there!

2012 FaHCSIA Information Awareness Series: Social media in action – what’s happening in Australian Government, 24th May 2012

If you've interested or involved with social media in government and have some free time on 24 May, a useful way to spend it might be attending the 2012 FaHCSIA Information Awareness Series forum - Social media in action – what’s happening in Australian Government

I will be giving an updated chat on Gov 2.0 adoption across government and other speakers will include:

• Communication and media expert, Madeleine Clifford, on the successful campaign, The Line; and
• Government digital records management leader, Katharine Stuart, on the responsibilities and challenges for Government record keeping with social media

Details for the forum are below:

When? 
10.00 – 12.30, Thursday 24th May 2012

Where? 
FaHCSIA Auditorium,
B Block Tuggeranong Office Park
Cnr Atthlon Drive and Soward Way,
Greenway.

How? 
RSVP to the 2012 Information Awareness Committee

GovChat transcript now available

If you missed #GovChat last week (where I was the guest), @PSLeader now has put the transcript online at http://www.psleader.org/wp-content/uploads/CraigThomlerGovChatChangingTheWorldWithGov20.html

Launch of the ACT chapter of the Change Management Institute

Every innovation and productivity improvement, machinery of government change and Gov 2.0 initiative embedded in the business-as-usual operations of an agency is a change, therefore I am pleased that Tim Little, after years running a successful Change Management Group in the ACT, has been able to take the major step of founding the ACT Chapter of the Change Management Institute.

I believe that change management, using a structured, considered and tested process for introducing and bedding down change, is a vital component in all organisational change - and this doesn't simply mean a media release or communications strategy.

The launch event for the new ACT chapter is coming up on 26 April at 5:30pm for a 6:00pm start.

It will be held at Airservices Australia in the Kingsford Smith Room at 26 Constitution Avenue Canberra and is being sponsored by SMS Management and Technology and Airservices Australia.

Speakers at the event will include Caroline Perkins, CMI President and developer of the Organisational Change Management Maturity Model, and will speak about this latest research and development.

Local CMI-accredited OCM practitioner and ACT CMI committee member, Rohan Lane will also provide an informal report on ‘the state of the Territory’ talking about his experience of Organisational Change Management in the ACT.

Some of the benefits of joining the Chapter include:

• Networking with other change practitioners
• Access to latest research, trends, tools and information
• Speakers presenting on a variety of change management topics
• Sharing, connecting and collaborating with others
• Expanding your contacts within the industry
• Professional development through workshops, mentoring and masterminds
• Building your credibility within the industry through being part of a professional body.

So come along and be part of the ACT Chapter. If you are not a member of the Change Management Institute yet you can join by credit card at the event or online at www.change-management-institute.com