The Obama administration's push toward open government, including the use of web-based and social media is truly inspiring. The latest initiative from Capital Hill is a memorandum, titled: Social Media, Web-Based Interactive Technologies, and the Paperwork Reduction Act, that regulates federal government use of web tools like Twitter, blogs and wikis.
The documents can be found here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/openThe memorandum facilitates the use of web tools for the purposes of engagement and interaction with the public, by informing federal agencies what they can do with these tools without triggering bureaucratic review. These include using wikis to engage with the public, hosting webinars, as well as the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
*The PRA is mentioned a lot in the memo. It stands for The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, which limits the ability of federal agencies to collect information from the public. According to the PRA, agencies must get permission to requests information of the public.This memo clarifies what social media activities falls under the PRA and which are excluded.
