Social Media @ EPA

Jessica OrquinaOffice of Web Communications

January 2013

Background & Policy

• It is EPA’s policy to use social media where appropriate in order to meet its mission of protecting human health and the environment.– EPA is using social media tools to create a more

effective and transparent government, to engage the public and EPA’s partners, and to facilitate internal collaboration.

– Social media provides another set of tools to help EPA accomplish its mission.

Considerations• Social media is not always the answer.• Social media needs to be part of a complete

communications and marketing plan.• Four things to remember

– Social media is free like a puppy is free.– Social media is a set of tools. Don’t throw out the old just

because you get something new.– We’re in the first pitch of a baseball game.– An expert is someone who knows one thing more than you do.

• Terms of Service • Resources

Social Media Tools• Blogs• Microblogs• Social networking• Widgets• Wikis• Video/photo sharing• Podcasting• RSS• Mashups• Idea generation• Webinars• Challenges• Geotagging

EPA’s Social Media• EPA is using social media to

communicate with a wide variety of different audiences.

• Facebook: multiple accts– www.facebook.com/EPA– Region, geographical, and program

pages• Twitter: multiple accts

– @EPAgov– Region, geographical, and program

accounts• Foursquare: one account

– https://foursquare.com/epagov • Google+: one account

– www.google.com/+EPAgov

• Blogs & Discussion Forums: Greenversations family– It’s Our Environment

Region, geographical, and program blogs

• YouTube: one account– www.youtube.com/usepago

v• Flickr: one account

– www.flickr.com/photos/usepagov

• Challenge.gov: one account– http://challenge.gov/epa

• More social media at EPA

Where do we engage?

• Questions:– What are your goals?– Where is your audience?– What type of information do you want to share?– How much time / resources do you have to

commit to this communication effort?– How sensitive is the topic?

Maximizing Impact / Campaign Coordination

• Foundation: Good content on the web.– Plain language information– Maps– Photos and graphics

• Momentum: Sharing– Web content– Between social media sites (example: share blog posts on

Facebook and Twitter)• Engage: Listen and respond

– Join in the conversation on blogs and social media!– Answer questions when possible– Listen to feedback

Resources

• EPA Web Guide Social Media– http://

yosemite.epa.gov/OEI/webguide.nsf/socialmedia• Using the EPA Comment Policy– http://yosemite.epa.gov/OEI/webguide.nsf/social

media/comment_policy• Terms of Service Agreements– http://yosemite.epa.gov/OEI/webguide.nsf/social

media/social_media_tos_agreements

Question & Answer

Contact Information

• EPA Social Media Lead– Jessica Orquina– 202-564-0446– Twitter: @JAOrquina