Panel: Government should educate workforce on benefits of social media

Agencies looking to increase employee use of social media should focus on explaining the benefits of such tools and training workers to use them appropriately, government officials said on Tuesday. Panelists at an event sponsored by the nonprofit group AFFIRM at The George Washington University emphasized the importance of communication and marketing when introducing employees to new technologies, but also noted the challenges of integrating social networking into federal agencies. Emma Antunes, project manager for NASA's internal social network Spacebook, said employees must be educated to understand the potential benefits of using social media.