Social media
"Social media" and "Web 2.0" refer to Web sites that people use to share information and ideas. You may have head of many of these sites such as blogs, YouTube, or Facebook. What's different about social media Web sites is that the users of the Web site, not the owners of the Web site, provide the information for others to read, share, or mix ("mash up") in interesting ways. The most exciting possibilities are when people find entirely new ways to use information that offer novel insights or ways to solve problems. General information about social media in Government. EPA is using social media tools in the firm belief that by sharing and experimenting with information we greatly increase the potential for better understanding for all about environmental conditions and solutions. Collaboration among individual or groups to solve problems is particularly exciting when people bring "different parts of the puzzle" to help find solutions. But at the same time, we also make every effort to proceed deliberately, for example, to observe any requirements related to federal activities such as transparency, public process, or privacy. EPA doesn't endorse any particular social media site or technique. Many links below exit EPA Contents EPA has developed its own social media tools:A web log, which is usually shortened to "blog," is essentially an online journal or diary, usually offering the personal observations or insights of the writer on a particular subject and also comments left by readers. EPA first began blogging in 2007 and currently maintains the public blog Greenversations. to which numerous Agency employees and others contribute daily on a wide variety of topics. A podcast is an audio recording, usually on one particular topic, ranging anywhere from several minutes to an half-hour or more. EPA provides podcasts and audio files (and transcripts) of useful or engaging information as a way to help the public understand and share information. A gadget or a widget is a small piece of Web programming code that makes something interesting appear on your blog, wiki, or Web page. Information in a widget can feature updated information or let the reader do something like use a search box. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's an easy way for users to have news and information updated on their own Web sites or other device, instead of just linking to that information. Such information delivered this way is called a "feed." EPA provides RSS feeds for its news releases. Although not exactly a social media tool in the truest sense, a mobile Web site adds to the social experience simply by being small enough to be useful where the user is. EPA's mobile site is still growing but provides access to some information a user "out in the field" might find useful. Visit EPA's mobile Web site, m.epa.gov Social bookmark sites (also known as social news sites) let you save links to Web pages and share them with others who share similar interests. On most of its Web pages, EPA offers a short set of links to commonly used social bookmark sites.
EPA participates on existing social media sites:Twitter lets users subscribe to receive brief updates or "tweets " (a maximum 140 characters) from others whom they choose to "follow." EPA tweets include various announcements and usually links. General information about Twitter
Facebook lets users create their own sets of "friends" among whom they share brief updates, photos, links, or other information. Similarly, EPA's Facebook page offers users a place to follow EPA updates and share information. YouTube lets users posts videos to share with others. EPA's YouTube page offers quick access to many EPA videos and links to more information in general, or to share videos for a specific purposes, for example for the 2009 Earth Day video project. Flickr lets users manage, store, and share photos or join groups to share photos with a common theme or purpose. EPA has used Flickr to invite users to share photos for example for the 2009 Earth Day photo project. |
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