Social Media for Government

Last topic of this year and this time I think I’ve wrote something which is good to know about: social media!

Social media has become more and more important in the 21st century. If ten years ago not a lot of people were internet users, today things have changed substantially. With millions of internet users every day information is shared in just a fraction of second. Social media is even more revolutionary with the use of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin – three of the most popular social media websites.  Facebook is a powerful tool for sharing information and has more than 500 million users from all over the world. This has a great impact on people’s lives, because sometimes, information is better shared and understood through Facebook rather than through some other formal channels like newspapers or government press releases.

This is why some departments within governments create Facebook pages to share information about certain policies. In this way, people can follow almost in real time the stages of implementation of those policies. One great example is Atlanta Beltline project, which was also included in my other memo about the quality of life indicators. Atlanta Beltline is a project created by Atlanta Development Authority, in collaboration with other City of Atlanta Departments. Atlanta Beltline will create public parks and construct new houses along a 22 –mile railroad corridor and will connect 45 neighborhoods.

The results of this great project will be 5,600 units of affordable housing, new communities and greenspace for residents to enjoy and so on. Not only people who live in that area will benefit from such great policies, but also people from other parts of the city, with new opportunities in terms of labor and new public services. For these reasons it is important to use very different ways to spread the information.

The Facebook page for this project was created in 2006, and today it has more than 4,800 subscribers which means that a lot of people are interested to know more about it. The official page contains very up to date pictures, interviews with different persons and videos. In this way, people will observe what is the stage of different policy implementations. People will also see where their money go, because, even if indirectly, most of the resources used to finance such policies are from tax payers. with money. Using social media such as Facebook is very effective because communication is very easy and people can have discussions, report incidents, and put questions to those who work for the project.

As a result, people can also contribute by giving suggestions to improve some things that they think should be done in a different way. Since the most important thing of every policy is to reach the constituency of every potential consequences social media does not guarantee that, but it helps. With more users online every day, Facebook will become a very powerful not only for governments to share information about policies, but also for politicians to gain votes, for marketing purposes or other things, because it is a different and new channel of sharing information and influence people.

<http://www.facebook.com/atlantabeltline>.

today, tomorrow

I would like to recommend some interesting websites:

Dw-world.de, a great site with news from all over the world and an impressive video library regarding global issues, business, cars, culture, news and politics.

You will be very updated and you won’t have any fear in carrying on discussions about anything!

To have all this, just click here.

In the frame of one of my courses, I started to have more interest in Japan which since almost a month, has became the third world economy after China and for sure it will affect our future especially in terms of technology.

Japan video topics is a website  for those interested in Japan and its culture, with very nice short films.

Click here: Japan Video

Hello, how are you doing?

Today I have received a beautiful e-mail from one of my friends currently in exchange in Bangalore, India.

I was very delighted to read his mail because the things he written me about were really great: there are monkeys in their beautiful campus, the university restaurant is exclusively vegetarian and that there are a lot of cows on the street!!!

His e-mail was a motivation for me to update my blog more frequently therefore I will write a little bit about life at Georgia State University.

I’ll start with the campus, which is not really dispersed and almost all the lectures are in the same buildings. The buildings are soo high, that maybe only in some big European cities you can find similar. Usually they start with 10 floors to 20 or more!

Since there are more university dormitories (mine has 14 floors) and some are not very close to the main campus, Georgia State University has its own buses which are for student transportation. This can be very useful when you want to save time.

GSU has not only its own buses but also its own police which makes this place a very secure. The police can escort you upon request, if you need at late hours. From this year, in GSU’s history, the university has its own football team and two weeks ago when there was the first game, they won!

The attendance was somewhere around 32.000 people. Of course I couldn’t miss it!

Good news: the recreation center is for free! Either you want to go to the gym or to the swimming pool or any other activity, you only use your student ID. Also very interesting extra courses are offered at a low price.

I remember in Belgium I had to pay €40  for the whole year and It was open only in a certain time of the day, but here its open from 6am to 12am.

Of course sport is very interesting but sometimes there is also need to study and the University has a huge library, with 5 floors with dedicated areas for individual study, study rooms and a lot of PC’s. I have never seen such a big

library in my life! Again you can study until midnight.

The typical student usually takes 12 credits (at undergraduate level each course normally has 3 credits which converted in European credits its 6 ECTS).

I wish to have more than 24 hours in a day, because with my program I’m taking 20 credits (7 courses) and If I say that to an American he/she will probably say to me that I’m crazy because it’s too much!

My typical day starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 2 a.m. and consists in studying, going at courses and eating (probably twice a day or once). Sometimes I’m so confused that from 4 languages I speak, I even don’t realize what I’m saying.

Since sport is important I started to find time for the gym.

As for eating the Dining Hall, there is a great variety of food both at lunch and dinner. The fares, are $10 at lunch and 14$ at dinner. It might sound a little bit expensive, and maybe it also is, but the cool thing is the “all you care to eat” style, meaning that you can eat as much as you want!

The alternative is to eat at MacDonald’s for $3,23 a meal! It’s very very cheap compared to Europe but it’s important not to go there every day otherwise you might change the body size!

The last issue I want to talk about is that people here are don’t ashamed to congratulate you if you have a nice shirt, shoes, or whatever.

They simply say: Hey I like your shirt! At the beginning I felt they were laughing of me but now I’m used to it and it happens to me if not everyday at least every two days!!.

People here is so warm, kind and polite that probably I haven’t met in all my life!

Everywhere you go they ask you: Hello, how are you doing? .

With this, I will stop here because my inspiration is over!

I’m not a good writer so I don’t assume any writing mistake.

Budapest

I have just seen a great video about Hungary’s capital: Budapest on a friend’s wall.

In this video there is a mix of history and future together promoting tourism in Hungary.

I’m sure that our neighbors had a lot to gain from the creation of this video. Its a very simple one, and the music is just brilliant.

Romania will have to learn more and have a bigger openness towards its neighbors.

The video is here and I will stop by saying enjoy it!

Dress Code

Here I am, finally updating my blog with some thoughts after almost three weeks of first class at GSU.

I remember the first days of class in Europe where people try to be well dressed in order to make good impression to the others.

Well, here they don’t care of that at all!

You can come to classes in every way you want! Of course don’t come in pajamas because people will start looking strange at you.

I observed that at U.S. colleges the level of informality is high and also professors don’t have a specific dress code, therefore you might think they are students as well.

This period is still a hot one and therefore the majority of the people wear shirts.

To be continued.

Atlanta, GA

Its been a week right now since I’ve moved to Atlanta for a study period of one year.

I’ve decided to share some parts of my experience, helping myself and you to understand the differences and similarities between US and Europe.

Once you’ve landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (one of the biggest hub in the US) the first difference is that you have to check-in again in order to get out of the airport and this may sound a bit strange. Unless you are from a diplomatic body, etc. you will have to spend like one hour and a half  for the immigration process and then to do the check-in.When you’re done, you get out of the airport and face a very warm climate You get into the car and then feel like you’re freezing because of the air conditioning.

All these things are really normal after some days and you start liking both!

I can say that the locals I’ve met are nice and kind, very interested in Europeans and they are ready to help you whenever you need indications. If you start asking with a smile, then everything’s so perfect.  Even the police is kind: in the evening if you need they escort you to places, ask for pictures with you and behave very normally.

After dealing with some bureaucracy  at the university, I’m very excited to start the new academic year.

Motivation for prospective entrepreneurs

Recently, EMP Turin team drove you through the 2010 edition of the European Entrepreneurship Video Award, the European Commission’s initiative to promote entrepreneurship.

The winner of the 2010 “Special Award – Aged 25 or younger” is:

“The fruit of work” by Márton Medveczky & Gábor Filkor from Hungary.

Enjoy …