Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[Genz2]

Key Areas Governments Can Benefit from Social Media

https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2018/08/key-areas-governments-can-benefit-social-media/150770/

Real-time communications with citizens are just one of the advantages of a social media plan.

Social media has become a critical communications tool for government agencies. It’s a direct lifeline to their constituents and the use cases of social media are endless. Take for example the ability to encourage constituents to sign up for health care directly, or altering commuters in real time any delays or outages in public transportation. When it comes to emergencies, social media could literally be a life or death resource, directing citizens to the nearest disaster relief centers or educating them on the latest rescue efforts.

Yet, despite the clear benefits associated with social media, many government agencies are still struggling to include social media in their broader outreach programs. A recent survey conducted by Hootsuite found that 87 percent of government agency respondents felt that their social media programs have room for improvement, but only 40 percent had a clear path moving forward with social.

Taking into account the growth and importance of social media, there are some key areas that government agencies would see clear, actionable benefits from increasing their commitment to social media use.

A More Informed Public

According to Hootsuite’s survey, citizen engagement ranked as the highest priority for government agencies on social media, this holds particularly true for state and local governments, with nearly 90 percent reporting that they use social media for citizen engagement.

By using social media for citizen engagement, government agencies are seeing a two-way benefit, not only are their citizens more informed but the agencies themselves are better understanding the needs of their constituents, leading to a happier overall community.

Tapping into Unused Resources

Government agencies often struggle with budget constraints related to service teams. Social media empowers government customer service teams to quickly identify and engage with unhappy or unsatisfied constituents through the use of hashtags, agency mentions and relevant keywords. Cost savings are possible if governments integrate social media as a real-time channel for responding to individuals, rather than relying on a ticket-based help desk or call center.

Take for example the use case of New York City’s 311 service as a compelling example of how governments can use social media to support an effective service delivery strategy. 311 has encouraged city residents to file complaints digitally to report potholes, damaged roads, missed garbage collections and similar issues. This allows the agency to collect the information in a more efficient manner and frees up other resources within the department.

Communications in Real Time

Traditional forms of communication no longer cut it when it comes to crisis response; citizens want to be informed in an immediate and up-to-date manner, which is where social media plays a critical role. In fact, critical response should be the number one use of government social media, simply because during a time of crisis, people turn to social channels first.

Nearly 84 percent of respondents to Hootsuite’s survey identified keeping citizens better informed as the number one benefit of social media for critical response communications. Rumor control and faster response times also rank highly, at 60 and 50 percent respectively.

Creating an Employer Brand that Attracts and Retains Talent

Government agencies struggle to find suitable recruits and the issue is only going to become more complicated as more and more vacancies open up due to baby-boomer retirements. At the moment, most agencies use social media as a simple job posting board in the hopes that someone applies. However, the creative capabilities of employer branding have not been realized yet.

Nearly 20 percent of survey respondents said they have seen no benefit in recruitment, indicating untapped potential in the area of using social media for employee branding. A strong employer brand is a direct correlation between increased talent attraction and employee retention. By creating a social media presence that informs and engages potential, and current, employees agencies can generate goodwill and positive branding that entices people to want to be a part of what’s happening. The tertiary benefit to this is it also creates a brand that becomes engaging from a citizen perspective, increasing the number of conversations and use cases the agency has with the public.

The power of social media to quickly and efficiently share information with citizens and stakeholders is clear. This dynamic has changed the way government engages with citizens, replacing traditional one-way communication with two-way conversations. There is still much to be done, especially in an era that demands efficiency, modernization and rapid response. By adopting social media strategies and tools that can improve collaboration, remove silos to social media success, and provide deep insights, governments can continue taking steps to transform their operations and take the social advantage.


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https://www.wavesys.com/buzz/pr/protect-content-cloud-scrambls-files


Palo Alto, CA -

November 13, 2012 -

Today scrambls announced Scrambls for Files as the next enhancement to the free service designed to allow you to control your social media, manage your online privacy, and decide who to share with. Scrambls for Files brings the power of scrambls into Microsoft Windows, for easy encryption of all types of files and folders before they are sent over the open Web.

Cloud storage and social media services have become increasingly prevalent in the market, with consumers quick to embrace the benefits. Yet there are vulnerabilities in the current model of uploading information into the cloud, and then trusting third parties to apply the proper privacy, security and authentication policies. Scrambls for Files brings a more secure method of data transfer for sharing files and folders anywhere you happen to be on the Web. With scrambls, users even maintain control to change who can read messages and files even after the fact.

“This is an important solution to consider for anyone that wants to safely and securely use cloud storage services like Dropbox™ or Microsoft SkyDrive™. Only members of your specified scrambls groups are aware of and can access the content, and you maintain the dynamic control to change those permissions anytime,” said Michael Sprague, scrambls co-creator. “Cloud storage and social media services see only the encrypted data, and we don’t even see it here at scrambls—we only manage the keys and groups as a trusted third party.”

The power lies in the dynamic groups offered by scrambls. Users choose exactly who can see and read anything scrambled, by forming groups (based upon email address, Facebook contacts/groups, etc.). With the same simplicity of scrambls text messages, users just choose what individuals or groups are permitted to read a file. Scrambls will decrypt and display both text and files. Retract messages and/or files by changing the groups or individuals authorized; schedule a specific time for messages and files to appear or expire; and much more.

“Scrambls can be used to encrypt your posts and files for enterprise-caliber protection wherever they travel across the networked social web,” continued Sprague. “Secure what you place in cloud storage and take control over who can read sensitive information. The keys to unlock your encrypted data remain separate from the content, only to be brought back together when the people you authorize look to pull that message down from the cloud. Everyone else will only see scrambled text.”

While encryption concepts are not new, they’ve traditionally been a burden to use. The simplicity and power of scrambls’ groups mechanism sets it apart. Sharing scrambled files does not require circulation of a password or management of enterprise encryption key servers. Users simply choose who is authorized to read anything and those people or groups are granted rights—all they need is a scrambls account of their own.

Scrambls is a platform that can be used with any service, to add the protection of scrambls into any web service and infrastructure you already know and use (Facebook, DropBox, email, Active Directory, etc.). The new model of information sharing supports file and folder encryption for all Microsoft Windows platforms.

Introducing Scrambls Professional for Power Users:
Scrambls continues to introduce more functionality, expanding what users can do with their groups & connections. Scrambls for Files is the latest of these innovations, following the recent Facebook Integration for login and group creation and several mobile apps.

With Scrambls for Files, a premium offering of scrambls will be introduced for heavier usage that brings added benefits to scrambls’ most active users. Scrambls is committed to keeping basic use free for any consumer to secure their social communications over the open Web. The professional version allows unlimited use of Scrambls for Files, along with more features and functionality that are yet to come.

During an initial free trial period, every scrambls user will be given one free year of the professional offering (both new and existing users). Visit www.scrambls.com to sign up for free today.

Build scrambls Into Your Next App:
Scrambls also serves as a platform for integrating security and control for third-party solutions, protecting users’ interactions with the social web. App developers and social media providers interested in augmenting the privacy and security of their own applications and services can leverage scrambls’ software developer kit. The SDK enables third-party apps and sites to integrate directly with scrambls, for a comprehensive and reliable solution backed by enterprise security veteran Wave Systems. For more information, visit: http://developer.scrambls.com.