{"id":1836,"date":"2011-01-20T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.formtek.com\/blog\/?p=1836"},"modified":"2011-01-20T07:00:38","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T15:00:38","slug":"records-management-government-treading-the-rough-waters-of-social-media-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/records-management-government-treading-the-rough-waters-of-social-media-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Records Management: Government Treading the Rough Waters of Social Media Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Records Management has long been a complex and tedious undertaking, but the increased use of new social media technologies is making the task even more complicated. \u00a0Information conveyed via Social Media typically is characterized by frequent updates and refreshes. \u00a0Being able to capture information that should be classified as a record and to then preserve and manage that information is extremely difficult to do within the context of Social Media.<\/p>\n

For the federal government, addressing records management in the context of social media is a problem that is here today. \u00a0A\u00a0GAO report<\/a> found that 22 of the 24 largest federal agencies are actively using social media tools like FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube. \u00a0 Federal agencies have created as many as 205 Twitter feeds, 165 social media accounts, 108 blogs, 28 crowdsourcing applications and 13 wikis.<\/p>\n

Despite the difficulty of the problem, a number of government departments and federal agencies are trying to attack the problem of social media records management head on. \u00a0 Some federal departments and agencies have developed documents that outline social media policies and guidelines. \u00a0For example, the USDA, the Department of Energy, the US Navy, the US Army, the Department of Defense, the US Air Force, the US Marines, the US Coast Guard, and the Department of Justice all have published social media policy documents.<\/p>\n

But it’s not enough. \u00a0A research report by IBM<\/a> on how the federal government is handing social media records finds that much more needs to be done. \u00a0The IBM reports says that “current technology is not up to the challenge of capturing, managing and preserving electronic records, especially social media records. \u00a0While agencies are addressing those problems individually, the results may create silos and duplicative efforts and result in short-term solutions.”<\/p>\n

Some of the problems identified in the report include:<\/p>\n