At lunch today, I participated in a panel discussion sponsored by CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau on the theme: Knowing What You Don’t Know: Are Blogs and Social Media Changing the Communications Landscape? My fellow panelists were blogger Ian Ketcheson  and Rob Henderson from CNW Group.

Rob Henderson said that while many of CNW’s clients have been slow to embrace social media, they now are are expressing increasing interest in it. They know something is coming. And they want to be ready for it when it breaks into the mainstream.

Publicly traded companies are concerned about what they don’t know. The unknown lends a random, unpredictable element to the management of their corporate reputation.

Rob suggested that a number of the larger companies are holding back on social media because they want to see some of the early adaopters make the mistakes. Then they will have the “before” picture and be able to engage in social media with a set of established best practices and known conventions.

CNW has been introducing multiple streams of multimedia to match their clients’ appetite as it develops.

Ian Ketcheson talked about the environment for social media in government. He believes that senior executives in government get the significance of social media. It’s seen as one of the most pressing issues that they must deal with. And they are struck by the speed with which the changes driven by social media are occurring.

The breaking of news about the Gomery Committe on the Captains Quarters blog brought home to government communicators that traditional means of controlling news and information have broken down. Garth Turner’s expulsion from the Conservative caucus demonstrated that a public figure can harness the blogosphere to match large organizations in advancing his or her position.

There is much experimentation with social media in various parts of the government. Like social media itself, it reflects the initiative of individuals operating beyond a centrally planned and controlled strategy.

The discussion with the audience touched on a broad range of issues, including the power of social media to conduct consultations with people regardless of their geographic location; the power of blogs behind the firewall to bring organizations together and to provide a channel for genuine and spontaneous feedback; and social media as a tool to enhance collaboration.

The point was also made that many blogging reporters are exploring potential stories first on their blogs. They may then assemble a perspective and body of facts necessary to compete for the limited space in the mainstream media outlet. Finally, communicators must prepare their organizations to surrender the fiction that they control the message and instead understand that the era of social media requires that communicators engage in persuasion, not control.

I ended the session with an invitation to the participants to visit this blog post and get engaged in social media by leaving a comment. So, the success of my contribution will be judged by whether there are any comments here.

CBC News Online reports that Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, Rick Hillier, has issued a general order restricting publication of information and images to the Internet by members of Canada’s Armed Forces.

The order notes the risks of posting information or images that might provide insight into the deployment and capabilities of Canadian Forces and that such insight might put those forces at risk. The order requires CF personnel to obtain approval before publishing any military information or images to the Internet.

The complete text of the order is published on a military discussion forum. I am reproducing it in full below because I believe that it is an important reference document for those interested in the development of blogging policies:

R 011318Z SEP 06
FM NDHQ CDS OTTAWA
TO CANFORGEN
BT
UNCLAS CANFORGEN 136/06 CDS 050/06
SIC SAK
BILINGUAL MESSAGE/MESSAGE BILINGUE
SUBJ: GUIDANCE ON BLOGS AND OTHER INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS – CF OPERATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

REFS: A.QR AND O 19.36, 19.37, AND 19.375
B.DAOD 2008-1, 2008-4, AND 2008-6
C.NDSP CHAPTER 30

1. RECENTLY THERE HAS BEEN CONSIDERABLE INFORMATION POSTED TO THE INTERNET DESCRIBING THE EXPERIENCES OF CF MEMBERS, PARTICULARLY THOSE DEPLOYED ON OPERATIONS. THESE POSTINGS HAVE INCLUDED COMMENTARIES ON PERSONAL WEBSITES, WEB-LOGS (BLOGS) AND E-MAILS, AND UPLOADED STILL AND VIDEO IMAGERY. THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN POSTED BY CF MEMBERS DEPLOYED ON OPERATIONS OR IN GARRISON, FAMILIES AND ACQUAINTANCES OF CF MEMBERS, EMBEDDED JOURNALISTS AND OTHER MEDIA, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC

2. THIS CANFORGEN IS INTENDED TO ENSURE CF MEMBERS, THE CHAIN OF COMMAND, AND SPECIALIST ADVISORS AT ALL LEVELS ARE AWARE OF THE RISKS INHERENT IN MAKING SOME TYPES OF INFORMATION OR IMAGERY AVAILABLE TO THE WIDE AUDIENCE USING THE INTERNET, AND OF THE MEASURES TO BE TAKEN TO PREVENT SUCH RISKS

3. OPERATIONAL SECURITY IS PARAMOUNT. IT IS INCUMBENT UPON ALL CF MEMBERS TO CONSIDER THE POTENTIAL FOR CREATING RISK TO THEMSELVES, THEIR FAMILIES, THEIR PEERS, AND THE MISSION BY PUBLISHING INFORMATION TO THE INTERNET. SUCH INFORMATION OR IMAGERY MAY, EITHER INDIVIDUALLY OR IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER INFORMATION, PROVIDE EXPERT ANALYSTS INSIGHTS INTO CF CURRENT OPERATIONS, EQUIPMENT, CAPABILITIES, TACTICS, AND INTENTIONS, OR MAY PROVIDE INFORMATION THAT PUTS PERSONNEL IN SPECIALIST ROLES OR THEIR FAMILIES AT RISK

4. CF MEMBERS ARE TO CONSULT WITH THEIR CHAIN OF COMMAND BEFORE PUBLISHING CF-RELATED INFORMATION AND IMAGERY TO THE INTERNET, REGARDLESS OF HOW INNOCUOUS THE INFORMATION MAY SEEM. THE CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS ACCESS TO EXPERT ADVISORS, SUCH AS PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND INTELLIGENCE STAFFS, WHO WILL ENSURE THAT SUCH PUBLISHED INFORMATION IS NOT ULTIMATELY PREJUDICIAL TO CF OPERATIONS AND PERSONNEL

5. CF MEMBERS ALSO HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THAT ANY INFORMATION OR IMAGERY THEY SHARE WITH A THIRD PARTY WHO MAY NOT SHARE CF OPERATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS IS NOT OF SUCH A NATURE THAT IT COULD CREATE RISKS IF PUBLISHED

6. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION OR IMAGERY BY EMBEDDED JOURNALISTS OR OTHER MEDIA IS SUBJECT TO AGREEMENTS BETWEEN SUCH MEDIA AND THE RESPONSIBLE PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF, WHO WILL ENSURE THE APPROPRIATE MANAGEMENT AND RELEASE OF INFORMATION

7. IT IS NOT THE INTENT OF THE CF TO RESTRICT THE INTERNET ACCESS PROVIDED TO CF MEMBERS AS DESCRIBED IN THE REFERENCES. WITHIN GENERALLY WELL-UNDERSTOOD LIMITS, CF MEMBERS ARE ENTITLED TO COMMUNICATE WITH FRIENDS, FAMILY AND COLLEAGUES, AS ARE ALL CANADIAN CITIZENS

8. THE CF CHAIN OF COMMAND, PARTICULARLY IN A THEATRE OF OPERATIONS, HAS THE AUTHORITY TO RESTRICT ACCESS TO THE INTERNET IF IT IS DEEMED ESSENTIAL TO MAINTAINING OPERATIONAL SECURITY

9. LEGAL ADVICE ON THIS CANFORGEN IS AVAILABLE TO THE CHAIN OF COMMAND FROM THE NATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTORATE OF THE CF LEGAL ADVISOR (CFLA)

The CBC report contains this explanation by a CF spokesman:

“This is something that the military has had to deal with since 2002,” when Canada sent troops to Afghanistan, Lieut. Adam Thomson, an Armed Forces spokesman, told CBC News Online.

He noted the policy has “been a long time in the making.

“We realized that blogs are more influential than we knew,” he said.

At least one observer feels that this policy is heavy handed and sends the signal to Canada’s Forces that “We don’t trust you. If we trusted you, we’d remind you of the security issues, make clear to you that you’ll be disciplined for violations of those security issues, and then let you govern yourself accordingly with limited supervision.”

The Torch points out that the U.S. armed services have taken a different approach. ”The key elements are registration of the blog with the chain of command, accountability for any information going up on it, and periodic monitoring by the command for compliance.”

Canada’s federal government is making some tentative moves into social media.

Last night, the Prime Minister of Canada’s Podcast popped up on iTunes’ Canadian podcast page. The files can also be accessed through a streaming player on the Prime Minister’s website, as can video files. However, the files on the PM’s site cannot be downloaded.

Without doubt, this is a medium that will enable the Prime Minister and his government to reach past the Parliamentary Press Gallery and speak directly to the citizens of Canada. However, the current presentation is nothing more than the raw audio files of the PM’s speech. This is likely to appeal only to the committed partisan or policy wonk.

To attract a larger audience, the Prime Minister’s Office should enhance the production. Definite must dos: a musical intro;  an introduction by a host to estabish the context and provide a summary of the content and maybe even a brief interview with the Prime Minister after the sound clip to provide some content that is unique to the podcast.

Bottom line: a first step by Canada’s new Prime Minister. Hopefully, there will be more.

Sebastian Keil picked up two reports that Angela Merkel today will launch a podcast.

Podcasting is an ideal communications vehicle for government leaders. It closely follows the broadcast model that politicians use every day. Political leaders generate a regular stream of speeches and voice clips, ideal content for podcasts.

Merkel Keil is the second major government leader that I know of who is taking advantage of social media. She joins David Miliband, Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs in Tony Blair’s UK government, who started blogging on January 2, 2006.

It is inevitable that others soon will follow them in their use of social media.

If you know of other examples of government leaders or senior government officials who are podcasting or blogging, please tell me about it by leaving a comment on this post.