How City & State Government Agencies Can Scale Open Records Request Processes

In the always-on, hyper-connected digital age, you'd think it would be relatively straightforward to produce records for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or open records requests, but it can be incredibly labor intensive, time-consuming work — especially when the relevant records could span across various platforms like email, social media, websites, or Microsoft Teams.

The right social media intelligence tools can be the key to finding that "smoking gun" in an ever-growing sea of online data. This blog looks at the top seven open-source intelligence (OSINT), or social media intelligence (SOCMINT), tools crucial for online investigations.

Emergency management, incident response, election details, program announcements, updates to transportation routes, event promotions, funding decisions, and town hall management. These are just some of the many areas of responsibility that public information officers (PIOs) can be expected to manage. No matter the government agency they work for, PIOs are essential in fostering trust between communities and the government on a federal, state, and local level.

Amidst an ever-increasing amount of misinformation, internet trolls, and open records requests, social media archiving has become an imperative for public entities and businesses.

As social media usage has increased, so have the different types of abuse, harassment, bullying, and defamation victims can face online. One of the most powerful tools to combat this growing trend is education, making it easier to handle situations that can suddenly materialize. This blog discusses the ten forms of social media bullying and harassment by offering concrete examples and insights into its many forms.

Since the beginning of social media, people from all over have been able to share their thoughts and ideas. The dark side of this revolutionary change is that not everyone has something kind to say, which makes protecting yourself against social media harassment critical.

The internet has become a breeding ground for misinformation and disinformation. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans' exposure to––and belief in––misinformation differs by the specific news outlets and the general pathways they rely on. More specifically, people who rely on social media are more prone to consuming misinformation and disinformation.

Any business that deals with sensitive information needs a document retention policy. Does your business have staff you keep records on, for example? If so, your business deals with sensitive information.

Building websites used to require a lot of time, knowledge, and manual coding. But with today's sophisticated content management systems (CMSs), building and managing a website is much easier. While customizing features may require technical know-how, the general rule is that most websites are built and powered by an intuitive and user-friendly CMS. However, CMSs were not expressly designed for archiving data. Storing CMS data requires more than hitting save when updating a page. A CMS is not an archive system; your website data isn't necessarily automatically saved in versions—nor is the backup data easy to access. That means you may struggle to identify and access the backed-up data you want to access. Hence, it's best to have a system dedicated to archiving and backups.

Social media archiving is necessary for police and fire departments to comply with open record laws. It can also help facilitate crisis communication and foster organizational trust within the community.