THE GOVERNMENT

Voice and anonymity
Social media has fostered an informal, more “human” approach to disseminating information. Use this to your
advantage; translate commonly used government jargon into plain language, which is more accessible to an
online audience. However, while you are given the license to be less formal in social media, the voice and tone
used should not detract from credibility nor lessen the value of the information being broadcast. If possible, every
release should provide a link of related content—this is especially aligned with the objective of social media as a
promotion tool.
If content to be promoted does not match the plain language adopted for social media, try paraphrasing it—
which can likewise be used to fit the limited character count of Twitter. However, paraphrasing for broadcast
must be cleared with the agency’s communications division. A good rule of thumb: Adopt informal spoken
English as a tone, but retain corporate distance; remain informative, rely on providing the gist.
Note that the account represents the agency on social media; thus, the account must be anonymous—no
individual must be identified as manager of the agency’s account. However, in special instances—which must be
cleared beforehand with the agency’s communications division—the agency’s social media team may be cited.
Please avoid the “Administrator” tag in tweets or status updates, as this is implicit.
A note on account availability: If possible, set the hours in which the social media platforms are active;
it is advisable for social media accounts to be visibly available during work hours. Please note that public
announcement of availability is especially useful for public engagement. The frequency of tweets and updates
depends on the content the agency produces per day, but a minimum of three tweets and one status message per
working day is advisable.
Recommended format of posts
For Twitter: The platform, with its limited character count, requires a balance of brevity and informativeness;
tweets must be concise enough to fit the medium, but they should not sacrifice the integrity of the content. Note
that the principles of paraphrasing come into play here; it is imperative that social media handlers learn how to
be adept at translating the jargon of official materials into more informal language. The following examples are
taken from coordinated activity of www.gov.ph and the Twitter handle @govph:
While mirroring titles of entries from a website for broadcast is an acceptable practice, variation enhances an
account’s voice.
An entry on the website, “Speech of President Aquino at the Good Governance Summit 2014” may also be
promoted by providing more context, or by pulling a direct quote:
President Aquino delivered the keynote speech in today’s Good Governance Summit: [LINK];
President Aquino: “Government exists precisely to improve the lot of the people they swore
to serve.” [LINK].
An entry on the website titled “Statement of the DFA Spokesperson on the new Hainan fisheries law” may be
better broadcast as:
STYLE GUIDE FOR THE GOVERNMENT
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