Improving Government Transparency with Pagefreezer’s Archiving Solutions

Some of the most fundamental qualities of effective government are transparency and trust. You’ve undoubtedly worked hard to create engaging comms and programs to serve the public and engage them in dialogue, all with the goal of building trust.

Did you know that there are more than 73 million websites built with a content management system (CMS)? Your government entity’s website presence is part of that number, but held to different standards as compared to a cooking blog, for example.

How devastating can misinformation on social media be? According to a growing number of local governments, the answer is “very damaging indeed”. So much so that San Diego County declared health misinformation a public health crisis on August 31, 2021, a move that was soon followed by Jefferson County (WA), Clark County (NV) and Contra Costa County (CA) – and the list of counties joining them continues to grow.

The need for clear communication at all levels of government has never been greater. Governmental bodies must ensure transparency, trust and professionalism with their colleagues and, more importantly, with the public. Getting this right isn’t just a case of better public relations—it is a matter of compliance.

Almost every day after a European football match, there’s another media headline highlighting a player who received racial abuse on social media. Football clubs condemn it. The content gets reported to social media platforms. Accounts are deleted. Authorities are notified and declare a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against discrimination and prejudiced behavior. Many players share the posts, highlighting the racism they continually face.

2020 has undoubtedly been a tough year, with government social media use having higher stakes than ever before. Yet, despite all the challenges, most government organizations continue to do great work on social media—leveraging social platforms to not only provide crucial information and help citizens deal with current issues, but also shine a spotlight on actions and events that are worthy of celebration.

As with other social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, organizations often need to archive their official Instagram accounts. In the public sector, this is usually to satisfy FOIA and Open Records recordkeeping requirements, while in the private sector, it is generally in preparation for a regulatory audit or legal matter. One recent example of a lawsuit related to a company’s use of Instagram is that of Teami, which was accused by the FTC of misrepresenting the health benefits of its tea.

If you’re a public information officer (PIO) or government social media manager, you’re undoubtedly very familiar with angry comments on your official social media accounts. Whenever members of the public are angry or frustrated, an official government social media account is the first place they’ll head to make their displeasure known.

As both government organizations and private-sector companies deal with the realities of a global pandemic—specifically the need to get crucial work done with a distributed, remote workforce—team collaboration tools are proving to be incredibly valuable.

The impact that COVID-19 has had is unprecedented. Of course, there is the impact of the disease itself, but it is also forcing organizations to continue to operate while a large portion of its employees work from home.