{"id":44549,"date":"2013-10-02T14:20:33","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T13:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=44549"},"modified":"2013-10-02T14:20:33","modified_gmt":"2013-10-02T14:20:33","slug":"the-us-government-shutdown-and-social-media-blackout-what-does-this-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/the-us-government-shutdown-and-social-media-blackout-what-does-this-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"Gridlocked: US Govt and social media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the shutters went down on US federal offices yesterday, several Twitter, social media accounts and websites of key government departments were suspended. While President Barack Obama and certain members of the Congress still have their feeds active, major agencies such as the US Department of Homeland Security, NASA and the US Federal Trade Commission, among others have announced a blackout phase on Twitter \u2018until further notice.\u2019\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>Sorry, but we won&#8217;t be tweeting\/responding to replies during the government shutdown. Be back as soon as possible. <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/qIx8cigrnb\">http:\/\/t.co\/qIx8cigrnb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA (@NASA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NASA\/statuses\/385017261460688896\">October 1, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\n<script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>Unfortunately, the FTC is closed due to gov shutdown. We won\u2019t be available to answer questions via Twitter. We hope to be open soon.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FTC (@FTC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FTC\/statuses\/385038416859000833\">October 1, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\n<script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There are many lessons to be learnt from America\u2019s administrative gridlock \u2013 and how (not) to communicate in times of a crisis is perhaps a critical one to take home.<\/p>\n<p>The important questions here are, should the government shut off communications at a time when its citizens and the global audience requires clarity and transparency the most? \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, in this particular circumstance, (where <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-24343698\" title=\"BBC\" target=\"_blank\">70,000 federal employees<\/a> have been sent home on indefinite unpaid leave) has the US\u00a0government cut off all communication to protect itself, and the public from misinformation (often a by-product of social media), till a solution is sought?<\/p>\n<p>Both questions are valid, and it will be interesting to hear what readers think is the best communication strategy for the US, and for that matter, any corporate brand and organisation in time of \u00a0crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Suzie McCarthy, director of Social Media Today, in her piece titled, &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/socialmediatoday.com\/suzimcc\/1784246\/us-government-shutdown-twitter-feeds-go-dark#!\" title=\"Social Media Today\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter Feeds Go Dark during the government shutdown,<\/a>&#8216; suggests: &#8216;should the shutdown continue, it would\u00a0behoove\u00a0the government to consider reopening their\u00a0Twitter\u00a0accounts, even if it is simply a handful of tweets each day with updates. As many brands will tell you, these relatively simple and low-cost\u00a0actions can have exponential benefits when it comes to consumer confidence and trust.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the shutters went down on US federal offices yesterday, several Twitter, social media accounts and websites of key government departments were suspended. While President Barack Obama and certain members of the Congress still have &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3484,7272,3531,3643,3680,4708,4949,5741],"tags":[5145,5146,5147,5149,5150,5151,75,77,1628],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}