Agencies with a sense of humor

[Paul Wagner]

Check out this story from the Guardian about how government agencies in the US are using social media to really communicate with their audience. And laughed out loud at some of the postings!

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/09/wildlife-department-twitter-oklahoma-washington

We need of this kind of thing–including government employees sharing their sense of humor.

[Rex Sanders]

For a few years I wrote social media posts for a government agency. Humor was frowned upon, and seemingly uncontroversial topics would suddenly be off limits. Never explicitly – approval just never came back, or a proposed post didn’t appear.

So enjoy government-posted humor while you can. Sooner or later someone will object, and the doors could slam shut for a long time.

— Rex

[BlackHatGuy]

Not sure how long ago you wrote the posts Rex, but I think things are quite different now (as the article shows). There can also be a big difference between the fed and state governments in how much they allow humor and such.

I enjoyed the article Paul, thanks for sharing. It’s nice to see some bureaucrats understand that buttoned up posts don’t get much traction, which means the message isn’t getting out.

[Paul Wagner]

I agree, Doug.  Good fun, and a good way to get people to hear the message.

[Dan Quixote]

Speaking of governmental humor, it might be worth noting that DOJ has a whole office whose name has been made into something of a joke. They have the “Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking”, which they call “SMART”, but could also be read “O SO SMART”.

I want to give a fist-bump to the creative bureaucrat that came up with that one.

[David Thomas]

In the late 1980s, in California, “Leaking Underground Storage Tanks” became “Leaking Underground Fuel Tanks” to deal with the obvious acronym problem.   Before the change, the program’s General Operational Director had the coolest title on his office door:

LUST
GOD

[Author]

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