UKgovweb joins the GovTwit directory, prompts rant…

Neil, first let me say that you mislabeled your title. Expressing annoyance isn’t a proper rant, it’s not even in the rant family.

But I digress. One of the main ideas behind http://www.bearingpoint.com/govtwit was that I was tired of pointing people to a variety of disparate sites, all focusing on their particular niche of govt.

I won’t go so far as to say we are attempting to build something that’s going to cover everything out there, but If we can capture 80-90% of the good stuff in one easy-to-remember place, hopefully it’s a valuable service.

I don’t rile easily

I hear what you’re saying, and I kind of take your point. But there is both one place and infinite places where this stuff comes together, in the form of Google and RSS respectively.

Convergence – in the general sense – is a rather odd concept I think now, particularly when you’re talking about social media savvy users. We have the tools to let us track and aggregate conversations across the internet, so forcing people into common web platforms isn’t especially valuable – for that nice audience.

What’s more, I think distinct identities and personal platforms strengthen the sense of engagement people have with the tools and the conversations.

Incidentally, a nagging worry in my mind recently is that lists like my digitalgovuk actually imply that use of the tools is enough in itself to be innovative and engaging, when clearly that’s not right.

er, I meant ‘niche’ audience. But they’re all nice too

[quote]…particularly when you’re talking about social media savvy users. We have the tools to let us track and aggregate conversations across the internet…[/quote]

Steph, there’s the rub. You can’t assume that the entirety of an audience is familiar with and/or using social bookmarking and other aggregation tools to manage the data that’s out there (or even finding what they need via quick Google search without some digging).

It’s just like when I counsel a highly tech-oriented client on how to speak to a general assignment reporter — dump the jargon and explain like you are speaking to your Mom; simplification helps.

There will never be “one source” out there to meet every need, but a compilation approach can still produce a very handy resource for many — whether new to social media or more experienced.

Good points, both.

One of the reasons it’s only a mild gripe is that I’m in two minds about this one myself.

I absolutely take the point about RSS and Google (and just the interconnectedness of blogs) – and the distinct identites, purposes and perspectives which make it all sing.

A big part of me LOVES the plurality of the web, it’s what it’s all about after all.

But the other part of me (the obsessive compulsive part maybe?) finds it all too *messy*. There’s a strong human instinct to tidy up, consolidate, compile.

And that conflict is what I’m talking about I suppose. It looks like lots of us feel that way and are trying to consolidate the fragments, producing fantastic resources – but paradoxically doing so in lots of *different* places.

Perhaps the web’s too slippery to be corralled in a holistic way. Even if we were all on one big wiki there would probably be the same fragmentation / specialisation within it.

[...] Williams e-Comms manager at CLG points out the problems of (government practices of) social media on the web becoming fragmented But surely if [...]