News release: The Department of Finance is using Twitter.
The Department will begin tweeting when the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, rises in the House of Commons to deliver Budget 2010 on March 4th.
Links to relevant portions of the budget will be tweeted in real time.
“Our Government wants to reach out to inform Canadians of actions we are taking to support the economy,” said Minister Flaherty. “Using social media will bring our message to Canadians in a new, cost-effective and convenient way.”
Links to Finance news releases, advisories, major speeches, publications and reports will be posted for users who follow the Department.
Follow us today at http://www.twitter.com/financecanada.
Wow, live-tweeting the federal budget — that’s quite the way to launch your presence in the Twittersphere.
Doesn’t sound like interaction is part of the plan. At least that’s what I am reading in to this — the release tells what kind of content to expect, but nobody is being invited to ask questions or respond, whether via @replies or DMs.
And to date, that’s how @financecanada has been operated – in 16 tweets quietly issued since mid-February, the account has acted as a feed to news releases and such issued by the org. (Aussi disponible en Français : @financescanada.)
And that’s fair enough– if you’re not set up to respond in a timely manner (and most federal orgs are not), then its better not to venture there. But on the other hand, interaction is something that Tweeters generally expect. So I’m not sure how long this “twitter as news feed” pattern exhibited here and by many other GoC corporate social presences will be sustainable.
Update:
This bit of news is taking a turn for the weird. It turns out that there is more than one Twitter account claiming to be from the Department of Finance. @financecda and @financecanada. Which is legit? Here’s a recent @financecda tweet:
From: @FinanceCda
Sent: Feb 24, 2010 13:43@FinanceCanada is imposter account. Please remove from your lists. #cdnpoli
sent via web
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/FinanceCda/status/9587494715
So if we trust this claim then @financecda is the real account.
But: where is the French equivalent account? I found no @financescda counterpart, while @financecanada has @financescanada as its equivalent. And the news release from the Department of Finance website says that the account they are using is @financecanada. So unless http://www.fin.gc.ca was hacked, I’m inclined to believe that @financecda is actually the impostor. Anyone else care to weigh in?
Final Update:
And in that tweet above there’s a typo! Should read impostor, not imposter. More significantly, Canwest journalist @davidakin has been tweeting about the impostor issue. He obtained a confirmation from the Department of Finance on which accounts are real:
Fin Dept spokesman Jack Aubry: The Department of Finance’s only twitter accounts are @financecanada EN and @financescanada FR
So there we have it. I admit, I was fooled by the impostor claiming that the other guy was a fake. I take solace in the fact that it didn’t take me very long to realize my mistake. A good lesson in there about trust and thinking critically about what you see and read!
What's a spaghetti test?
Peter – you left out the part about YELLING an explanation of what Twitter is …
I’m not trying to nitpick here but it made me (and others) think it was a rickroll:
http://twitter.com/danielblouin/status/9583068195
Also the “HEY THERE” seems over the top and didn’t make its way into the french version … I’m no comms officer, but if I was I’d have left out the caps.
Also worth noting that since putting up the release the follower count on their English presence has doubled.
Interested in seeing what happens….
I felt like kind of a grouch when I saw this cause I had the same thoughts as you hint at towards the end. If you’re not prepared to engage and communicate, why bother with Twitter?
I know it’s all about baby steps and getting comfortable with technology. But don’t make such a big deal about being in social media (ALL CAPS PRESS RELEASE!) if you’re not going to be social. Learn and experiment quietly.
Thanks Nick, thanks Joe – I too thought the release was curiously formatted. I feel it’s legit – it’s posted on the Dept of Finance site after all – just that the execution of the release was, er, imperfect?
I’m envious of public servants that have the freedom to write that way. How often do I read official government communication that exudes genuine excitement and pleasure? How frequently do news releases have discernible personality? Not often enough, in my opinion.
I loved it, though a few less caps were in order.
Thanks Todd. I think what they did actually was grab what you see on when you are viewing someone’s page on twitter.com while not logged in. So secondhand excitement?
Although… @financecda just follwed me on Twitter – turns out that @financecanada is an imposter account! See: http://twitter.com/FinanceCda/status/9587494715
Further reflection – I’m not so sure about @financecda. See my update to the original post above.
Also worth connecting your post w/this by @kady
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/02/departmentaldoppelgangerwatch-will-the-real-finance-canada-please-tweet-up.html
I am curious about what the fake Finance twitter account (@financecda) intends to say.
What remedies does the real Finance twitter account (@financecanada) have to deal with it? It seems like they are taking action: http://twitter.com/davidakin/statuses/9589782048
Generally, when a #goc dep’t launches a twitter account does the comms strategy not usually contain thoughts on how to risk-manage doppelgangers?
Finally, does this sort of doppelgangering happen often in #goc?
Hey Jesse
I’d say that using a third party to verify (like was done here) is a good approach.
And yes, the #goc and indeed any government is a target.
You can bet I’m watching this closely.