New guidelines and tutorial will help increase the use of sites like Facebook and Twitter by state government agencies and ensure compliance with public records laws. Gov. Bev Perdue distributed North Carolina's first state government social media policy and online tutorial to state agencies and departments on Dec. 23. The announcement was made via the Governor's Office Twitter page and the documents can be downloaded on Perdue's Facebook page.

The new guidelines will help and encourage state agencies to develop a presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and provide guidance to ensure social media use complies with public records and archiving laws.

"Social networking is not the next big thing. It's here now, and state government must stay current if we are to be fully transparent and accountable to the public," said Perdue. "I encourage all state agencies to take advantage of social media to increase communication and interaction with the citizens of North Carolina."

The new social media guidelines were created by a joint effort between the Office of the Governor, the Office of Information Technology Services and the Department of Cultural Resources. The policy focuses on these key areas:

• appropriate implementation, authorization and acceptable use of social media;
• security measures to protect individuals, sensitive information and state systems; and
• proper records management and preservation.

Accompanying the guidelines document is an online tutorial that focuses on best practices for social media and offers specific guidance for complying with public records law.

As part of Perdue's emphasis on transparency, accountability and interactivity with the people of North Carolina, she has increased the use of new media in state government. You can find the Governor's Office on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Perdue has also encouraged other state agencies to create their own social media sites.