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"California is by no means the perfect state. Case in point, the ongoing budget crisis, which ultimately makes Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's job as the public face of the state difficult at best, with anything he says or does open to immediate ridicule.\nGiven the very public nature of his role and his many critics, you would think that Governor Schwarzenegger would shy away from social media and the risks associated with it. But like many other politicians, the Governor has instead embraced communication opportunities available via Twitter (@Schwarzenegger) to not only connect with residents but elicit feedback he intends to put to use.\nToday, the Governor is turning his Twitter power into a channel to officially collect and harness ideas from other Twitterers interested in contributing to California change. The new initiative, MyIdea4CA, is a Twitter forum that pulls in tweets using the hashtag #myidea4CA, and creates a space where people can vote on the ideas they like, leave comments, and share their own ideas.\nIn conjunction with the site launch, we were able to interview the Governor on his social media outlook, the MyIdea4CA site and idea evaluating process, learn about the background behind it, and the Governor's forward-thinking social media initiatives.\nMyIdea4CA Overview\n\nOn June 9, 2009 the Governor tweeted, \"I love public participation so I want to hear your ideas for solving our budget, no matter how radical. Use #myidea4CA.\"\nThat tweet created a Twittersphere raucous where responses flooded in, with over 1,000 replies in the first hour. The tweet also resulted in mainstream media news coverage, and ultimately inspired the Governor and his new media team to build a site where people could share ideas, vote on the ideas they like or dislike, and add comments. The idea evolved into MyIdea4CA and they're officially launching it to the public today.\n\nThere aren't too many bells and whistles, but the basic idea is that your #myidea4CA tweet will be pulled into the site, with additional hashtags used to categorize tweets, for the general public and California government to review and consider (based on popularity). Comments are powered by Disqus, and you can filter tweets by category to find ideas you think will move California forward.\nGovernor Schwarzenegger on MyIdea4CA\nOf course we had to wonder how engaged the Governor would be with the site, so we took the opportunity to ask him about his involvement, how ideas will be implemented, and the general process for managing the influx of Twitter ideas. Here are our questions and answers verbatim:\nQ. How actively will you be monitoring the Twitter ideas shared through MyIdea4CA?\nI have always been active in looking at ideas sent to me from my Twitter followers, so the MyIdea4CA website will be an even easier way to stay on top of this process.\nQ. How do you see the process working once an idea becomes popular amongst the community? What steps will you take to implement good ideas?\nThere are many different types of ideas and they are all great places to begin discussions on how to move California forward. The conversation surrounding these ideas will add value and allow us to see all sides of an issue and identify new ways to approach the situation. When I see a good idea that we can use, I won't need a set of steps to move on it; we'll roll it out immediately.\nQ. Is the focus primarily to find ideas to solve California's budget problem, or are you looking for ideas on all state matters, like transportation, and if so, how will these be shared with their respective departments?\nIdeas are categorized in eighteen sections that cover a diverse range of issues from education to water management, and because it is a public forum, everyone working in those respective areas will have access to it.\nQ. If an idea is implemented, will you give credit to the Twitter user that submitted it?\nAbsolutely. What is so wonderful about Twitter is that it is a direct dialog with people. I'll take this opportunity here to thank one more time @RyanStothard for his suggestion to me to sign car visors for our car garage sale. You can see me signing those car sun visors in photos I've posted through Twitter.\nGovernor Schwarznegger on Social Media\nThe Governor's social media efforts have been newsworthy at times. From the initial tweet with the #myidea4CA hashtag, to the TwitVid.io (the site is now called Vidly) where he brandishes a knife, we asked the Governor to go on the record about lessons learned from his foray into social media (the answer about the knife is certainly worth a read). Here are his candid responses:\nQ. You've embraced social media channels for connecting with California residents. What have you learned through your efforts?\nWhat I've learned is that the people of California really appreciate having a dialog where a question is asked and an answer is given, and we don't have to rely on the media to interpret for us.\nQ. Are you actively monitoring any particular topics on Twitter?\nOne of my favorite topics on Twitter has been the #myidea4ca hashtag which was a call for new ideas on the state budget. This really resonated with people and gave everyone the opportunity to share the best of their ideas with me and made it easier to track those ideas.\nQ. What are your favorite Twitter apps?\nI like to share photos so people can see what I am doing during my day and using the TwitPic service has been good for that.\nQ. How do you react to negative feedback that you receive via social media? Do you ever respond to your Twitter critics?\nI have been quick to respond when appropriate and to correct misconceptions. I have seen suggestions to cut my staff numbers or for me to take a pay cut as a way to lead by example in this tough economic climate. I\u2019ve\u00A0 responded through Twitter that my staff has been reduced by 24% since 2007 and that I've never taken a salary for my work. I work for free because California has already given so much to me.\nQ. Would you redo the controversial TwitVid.io if you could?\nI thought it was great so many people worldwide watched a video where I thanked my Twitter followers for their suggestion that I autograph surplus cars to be auctioned for the state.\u00A0 Had I known holding a large knife would help pull in such big viewership, I might have started all my Hollywood movies that way. I do think the people of California know they elected someone who isn't afraid to have a sense of humor or be a little more entertaining to get a point across. The knife happened to be a gift I had just received that day from a friend and it's now been retired to my home so we'll have to wait and see if it makes any more appearances in future videos.\nQ. What are you hoping to accomplish by meeting with the Twitter team?\nTwitter has been such a great communication tool for me and the people of California, so I really wanted to take the opportunity to meet the people behind it. This type of entrepreneurial spirit is great for the state of California and the world. We'll be conducting a live question and answer web chat where I'll talk to Biz Stone and Ev Williams and take questions from people on Twitter. One thing I will talk to people about is the California garage sale we'll have Friday which includes all types of surplus state goods including such things as CHP motorcycles. We have an eBay auction going on right now as part of the garage sale that includes cars with sun visors that I have autographed. You can go to www.garagesale.ca.gov to find more information about it.\nWhat's Next for the Governor and Social Media?\nMyIdea4CA appears to be just the beginning for the socially savvy Governor. In fact, as the Governor mentions above, tomorrow he is heading to Twitter HQ for a live webcast and question and answer session with Biz Stone and Evan Williams at noon PST, where they'll chat and take questions from viewers via Twitter.\nAlso on the agenda is a website to create the full picture of the Governor's social media presence. The site is currently in development, but when it launches it will automatically pull in social media conten from Twitter, MyIdea4CA, Tweetcast.in, and TwitPic, as well as highlight the Governor's popular social media activities.\nThe Governor also has his own custom branded site for webcasts, called Tweetcast.in, where he'll live stream events \u2014 like tomorrow's visit to Twitter HQ \u2014 and viewers can use the Tweetizen powered discussion section to participate and add their Twitter comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/08/25/myidea4ca/>