Using the Internet to Communicate with your Constituents

Virginia Del. Kris Amundson (D-Fairfax) recently asked what we think she might want to share with the National Conference of State Legislatures attendees at their annual conference in Boston. She’ll be on a panel called “New Ways to Communicate with Your Constituents.” She’s received some good answers already, so I’ll stick with a few big picture themes, and then a couple of tips on direct interaction.

Big picture:

• It’s not about blogging. Or email. Or whatever might come next. It’s about communication. While blogs have received an inordinate amount of attention in recent years, they’re just another means of communication. Now, true, they’re a more widely accessible pathway than we’ve ever seen before, but – like going door to door, answering the phone, or hosting town meetings – its reason for being is communication amongst citizens and their representatives. Don’t lose sight of that.
• Communication is not simply declaration. That is, communication is a two-way street. Don’t embrace a medium – like blogs – that is designed for two-way communication if you only intend to use it for a one-way broadcast of your own message. If you start your own blog, or even have your own website – but fail to respond to queries and challenges directed at it – people will ignore it. You might as well stick with direct mail.
• Think about how you can encourage your own state and local governments to make information accessible to citizens. For example, Arlington, Virginia has an online database of all of its capital improvements projects – you can look up all bike-related projects in the planning pipeline, all scheduled projects for a particular street, or all projects still in the planning phase. Not only does this encourage good government by increasing transparency, it’s a resource that you can direct your constituents toward, so that your constituent service office can focus on communicating about policy goals, instead of serving simply as a factual information conduit.

A few practical tips:

• If you’re going to start a blog, make sure you are committed to regularly updating it. It sounds simple, to be sure, but there are an amazing number of state and local politicians that have started blogs only to let them fall by the wayside after the first few weeks. At first, it annoys the constituents. And then it becomes the butt of jokes (see, e.g., DC Mayor Anonthy William’s blog) .
• Before agreeing to “live blog” somewhere, check out the reputation of the blog’s primary author(s). Much like you wouldn’t want to show up for a speaking engagement at a Klan dinner or the Concerned Communists of America, you also don’t want to appear to lend credibility to a site that seems to exist primarily as a tool of hate or misinformation. That said, every blog community has anonymous commenters who seem to exist for the sole purpose of saying outrageous things. Pay them no mind, and don’t judge a site by the appearance of a couple of these troublemakers.
• Acknowledge the hard questions. If, via the comments on your blog or in a “live blog” situation, you get a politically awkward question, you should make a reasonable attempt to answer it – especially if everyone else has seen the question posted. Simply ignoring a question won’t make it go away. And unlike a press conference or conversation with a reporter, the unanswered question doesn’t just fade away – there’s a permanent and public record of it.

You know, I could go on for weeks about this. I’ve worked in state and federal government. My day job consists primarily of bridging the gap between the private and public sectors. I’ve been “blogging” for nearly a decade. I’m convinced that government could be substantially improved with increased transparency and honest communication between citizens and their representatives. So thanks, Del. Amundson, for taking the time to ask. And then thanks again, for taking the message to Boston.