1.

1 Public Sector Bloggers

There is an increasing rate of public sector staffs that have started

blogs and are sharing important information with other public sector
staff, industry experts and researchers. A list of public sector
bloggers can be found at The Public Sector Bloggers website. It
currently has 67 bloggers on its list and is growing every month.
The bloggers however do not only consists of public sector staff but
also consultants and researchers. The merge of different sectors
creates a healthy dialogue or conversation amongst the bloggers
themselves to share and accumulate useful information to improve
public services.

Chart 1: Public Sector Bloggers

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

 1.2 Public sector social media fountain of
knowledge

People who do good stuff relating to social media in public

sector ;o)

There are a few well-known public sector social media experts that
run blogs and share tips, their skills and useful strategies for social
media usage in public sector. This is crucial for the development
and adoption of social media because it increases public sector’s
confidence and distribution of strategies and case studies that can
be used as an example for government agencies. Public sector
employees, social media consultants, academic researchers or third
party organizations run the blogs and these are the main blogs for
social media in the public sector.

• Simon Wakeman

Simon Wakeman is Head of Marketing at Medway

Council in south each England. This website has
been running since early 2006 and Simon writes Chart 2: sim onwakem an.com

about communications, marketing and public

relations with a focus on the public sector.

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

 • Dan Slee • Dave Briggs

Dan writes about social media and digital in PR and local
government. Dan’s vision and ideas to improve local
government services online are inspirational and
definitely worth a read.
Dave Briggs blog, which can be found at Davepress
writes about web 2.0, social media and online
community building for government. Dave is Learning
Pool’s Community Evangelist as well as a freelance
consultant.

Chart 3: Davepress.net

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

 • Sarah Lay • Carl Haggarty

Sarah Lay works as an eContent Officer (non-technical) Carl Haggarty is an Enterprise Architect at Devon County
for Derbyshire County Council. She is also the founding Council who is passionate about digital engagement and
member of the Derby and Derbyshire Social Media Café participation, social communications, web and new media.
and currently undergoing a part-time post graduate in
Masters in eCommunication from Sheffield Hallam
University in social media for internal communications.

Chart 5: carlhaggerty.wordpres s.com

Chart 4: Sarahlay.com

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

• Alastair Smith • Nick Booth

Alastair Smith works at Newcastle City Council as a
communication adviser focused on web 2.0 in council
communication. He is responsible for setting up the council’s
successful Twitter channel, which was shortlisted for an award,
‘Best Innovative Use of Internet Communications’ – North East
Digital Awards 2008.
Nick Booth or PodNosh specialises in using social media for
social and democratic benefit.
Podnosh was established in 2005 to make the Grassroots
Channel podcast for the Birmingham Community Empowerment
Network. Since then it has matured from a brand, which just
made podcasts into a business which understands and helps
people use social media.

podnosh.com

Chart 7: Podnosh.com
Chart 6: al-sm ith.co.uk
Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

• IDeA Strategy and Development Unit Policy and • Stuart Harrison
Performance blog
Stuart Harrision is Lichfield District Council’s web developer,
Ingrid Koehler is an Improvement Strategist at the IDeA and the and content editor. He is also the person responsible setting up
main author of this blog. She works with social media innovators Twitterplan alongside Andrew Beeken from Lincoln City Council.
to develop new applications for local government. The work
focuses on improvement through better performances
management and use of information and knowledge-sharing,
accountability and community conversations through new
media.

Chart 9: pezholio.co.uk
Chart 8: ideapolicy.wordpress.com

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

• Michele Ide-Smith • Alice Ainsworth

Michele Ide-Smith is Cambdrigeshire County Council’s web Alice Ainsworth works apart of Southward Council’s e-
manager and an MSc in Human Computer Interaction and communications team. She is responsible for the council’s
Ergonomics at UCL Interaction Centre student since 2006 corporate site, online marketing which includes a monthly e-
studying human computer interaction. In this blog, Michele newsletter, intranet and social media channels.
shares her experiences and ideas about gov 2.0, user centered
design, social media and her research. This blog is extremely
useful for those interested in understanding social media’s
impact on local government from an academic point of view.

Chart 11: AliceAinsworth.com

Chart 10: ide.sm ith.co.uk

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

• SharonO’Dea • Steve Dale

Sharon O’Dea currently works for Westminster City Council’s
communication team, managing internal communications for the
London Borough of Sutton. She specialises in internal
communications, employee engagement and social media.
Steve Dale is an evangelist and practitioner in the use of Web
2.0 technologies and social media applications to support
personal learning and knowledge sharing. Steve’s blog is highly
respected and well read. He was also the business lead and
information architect for the Communities of Practice (CoP)
platform.

Chart 12: sharonodea.co.uk

Chart 13: steve-dale.net

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch

• Yvette Bordley • Andrew Beeken

Yvette Bordley works at Brighton and Hove City Council as a Senior Andrew is a Web Designer / Developer currently working for the
Marketing officer and is passionate about social media, search City of Lincoln Council as Web-Coordinator, managing and
engine optimisation (SEO), local government, digital marketing and developing the website and intranet.
online communities.

If you feel you should be on the list or wish to make a

Chart 14: webyogi.wordpress.com suggestion, please email me at liz@lgeoresearch.com

Liz Azyan’s Guide to ‘People who blog about good stuff you can do with social media in the public sector’

Blog: http://www.lgeoresearch.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/liz_azyan FB: http://www.facebook.com/LGEOResearch