Rock Creek Roundup (August 13 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy Aug 12, 2010 0 Comments

A Facebook widget gets the FDA’s attention—in a bad way, a Red Cross survey highlights social media’s growing role in emergency situations, GovFresh offers a slew of interesting interviews, and state IT initiatives from across the nation get noticed, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—Even though businesses and government agencies have become more comfortable with social media, one thing is certain: there are still plenty of gray areas to discover along the social media path. For example, one pharmaceutical company is in trouble with the FDA for a Facebook widget created for a prescription medication. Novartis, makers of anti-leukemia drug Tasigna, apparently failed to meet strict FDA guidelines about drug marketing and advertising because the Facebook Share widget it created to spread the word about the drug failed to effectively communicate drug risks and also implied that its product was superior. I imagine we’ll see more of these missteps along the way as we continue to explore social media and experiment with ways to share information through it.

—It’s late at night, there’s an emergency situation at your house, and your calls to 911 aren’t going through—what do you do? If you’re like 18% of the people who responded to a recent survey by the Red Cross, you turn to social media outlets like Facebook or Twitter to issue a cry for help. In “Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies” (PDF), the Red Cross outlined Americans’ attitudes toward government response agencies, with 69% of respondents believing that emergency response agencies should keep an eye on their websites and social media outlets for help requests. Survey respondents also expect a quick response, with 74% indicating that they expect emergency responses to social media or online requests for help be handled within an hour. “The social web is creating a fundamental shift in disaster response,” said American Red Cross president Gail McGovern, “[and] We need to work together to better respond to that shift.”

—Imagine getting to sit down and listen to Gov 2.0 luminaries like the U.S. Navy’s Susan Hess, U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra, NASA CIO Linda Cureton, and U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra (among others) talk about the challenges and benefits of cloud computing and their thoughts about how it will have an impact on the future of government. Stop imagining—GovFresh and FedScoop have made it a reality! GovFresh author Luke Fretwell picks and shares his seven favorite videos from FedScoop’s “Minds in the Clouds” series. These insightful interviews are definitely worth a look.

—“And the nominees are…” Earlier this week, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) announced the finalists in their 2010 IT achievement awards. Among those vying for honors in 10 different categories are the Massachusetts Health Connector website, Pennsylvania’s Child Support Portal, and Florida’s MyFloridaMarketplace. Check out the NASCIO site for more info about the program and the nominees.

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Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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