Last Thursday, e.Republic's new Media Director Kristy Fifelski, better known as GovGirl, took a trip to the 2012 Best of the Web Awards in San Francisco -- where the best of the best in goverment were honored for their dedication to innovation, usability and maximum functionality for users.

The Best of the Web is a joint endeavor of Government Technology & the Center for Digital Government. 

I've joined e.Republic as its New Media Director! We're going to expand and continue GovGirl and keep posting videos showing the fun side of government. Keep an eye on http://GovTech.com and http://YouTube.com/GovGirlBlog for more!

With campaign season in full swing, this video is for public officials and political office candidates. In "A Politician's Guide to Social Media", Kristy shares several tips on using social media in the political space. She mentions former Rep. Andrew Weiner, Troy Mayor Janice Daniels, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Politwoops and more.

• Don't post anything you wouldn't want to see in tomorrow's paper
• Know your agency's social media policy
• Talk like a real person
• Abide by campaign and open meeting laws
• Never cross the streams!

These tips simply show you some basic ideas - there are so many additional ways to take it further and optimize your social media presence. Have fun and enjoy the journey!

This video highlights some favorite YouTube channels focused on government innovation. "GovGirl" Kristy from http://GovGirl.com covers Gov2 TV hosted by Walter Schwabe, GovFreshTV by Luke Fretwell, AshInstitute by the Harvard Kennedy School and the GovInnovator channel by Andy Feldman.

Videos posted on these channels are helpful for both government employees and citizens! Watch Kristy's video:

I launched GovGirl.com on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2011. I had already been blogging for a year on online government, but I wanted to try using video to connect with a larger audience. The results were not what I expected. From the outset, I envisioned GovGirl as a place for other women in digital government to share their own videos and converse on this platform. What I didn’t realize, being the ham that I am, is that getting techies to feel comfortable using video as a medium is HARD. Alas, I am now "the GovGirl" and my mug will probably reign on the site until I can find equally hammy sisters to share the space with me. Here we are at the end of 2011 and over 10,000 video views later. Videos are now shot in HD and I have an external mic that gives me great audio. Some of the earlier videos were a little rough around the edges! We’ve explored the digital divide, hosting civic hackathons, open source in government, the art of sock puppetry and much more. Thank you to everyone over the last year who has re-tweeted, shared, laughed at, and encouraged more GovGirl videos. =) Looking forward to 2012. The countdown, by most views:

Number 5. GovGirl Episode 1 (715 views)

I truly cannot even watch this one anymore. It was the inaugural episode, and it was the cheesiest thing to ever come out of my kitchen (my ‘studio’ was my spare bedroom, actually). Anyway, watch for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

Number 4. 8 Ways Government Can Connect with Citizens (738 views)

This video should be number one! It is my all-time favorite GovGirl video, and I shot all the scenes in one day. It’s got Chuck Norris, sock puppets, my famous Michael Jackson moves…and my ferret does a cameo at the end. Make me smile every time (I’m probably 700 of the views).

Number 3. New Utah.gov Website Takes Risks (885 views)

I think I got the advance viewing of the new website at like 10:30p.m. the night before, so I had to record (and edit) this video in time to release it at 8 a.m. in the morning. Very tired the next day, but it was worth it to give my review of their uniquely designed portal.

Number 2. Government Fun on Facebook (1,117 views)

Still getting my feet wet in the fourth GovGirl episode, I received a great response with this lighthearted video. It’s okay for governments to have fun with residents and have a sense of humor on social media. Plus, I got to throw in a sock puppet and had my first ‘guest stars’.

Number 1. What is Your Favorite Conference Laptop? (1,131 views)

This video surpassed number 2 above in video views just yesterday! I can only imagine that people are doing some product shopping because of the holidays. In this video, I reviewed my new HP Pavilion dm1 laptop as a great one to bring along to government conferences. After going heavy on the editing in previous videos, I was proud to do this video all in one take.