Last week I heard about Monmouthshire Council’s enlightened views on social media. They see it as an essential tool for their employees and therefore they unblocked access for everyone. Helen Reynolds is Monmouthshire’s Communications Officer and you can see her on Youtube talking about

• why it’s pointless trying to control who can and can’t use social media
• how freeing access unleashed talent they didn’t know was there before
• how the world didn’t end
• the positive things that did happen

In brief, the argument runs like this: the people you employ generally know how to behave, ought to be trusted and are governed by various codes of conduct, so why assume the worst will happen if they are allowed unfettered access to the web?

If you can’t watch Helen on Youtube because your employer blocks access, here’s some good news: she is one of the speakers at a Public Sector Customer Services Forum in Glasgow on 21 June. The focus of the forum is on how the public sector can use Facebook to engage digitally with their citizens. As the blurb for the event puts it:

The case for whether or not the public sector needs to use social media has been won long ago. The question is not ‘if’ but ‘how’

The conference costs £135 plus VAT which looks like good value for money as the PSCSF forums are usually high quality and there are other top notch speakers.

But if your employer reckons it’s too expensive and you can’t be spared for the day, ask for Youtube to be unblocked so that he/she can learn from Helen Reynolds, for free, in 8 minutes 49 seconds…