Case Summary

In June 2008, Young Government Leaders co-founder Steve Ressler launched GovLoop, a new social networking site that strives to build a strong online community connecting government professionals and promoting knowledge sharing. This 'Facebook for Feds' includes individual social profiles, an events calendar, career resources, and a diverse collection of blogs. By mid-July, the site boasts more than 250 members and a rapidly growing array of content.

Business Challenge

Steve Ressler is a co-founder of the Young Government Leaders (YGL,) a professional organization of more than 1500 young federal employees.¹ For the last several years, this motivated fed has felt strongly that the government community needed an online social network that connected people and facilitated information sharing in a manner paralleling the best real world collaborative opportunities. Further, he envisioned a site that would reach across agencies, topics of expertise, age and geographical divides to build a population of users dedicated to public service.

As Ressler recalls:
'Personally, I have participated in many government associations and have found them very rewarding. The most valuable part was that I would be dealing with a problem at work and think to myself I'm dealing with a problem someone in the government has always researched and solved. And the value of these groups is that I could often talk to someone who had often dealt with the same problems, and they would offer great advice. However, I never could find an online home that facilitated the same level of discussions and connections...'²

Approach Taken

Initially Ressler thought that his vision of a 'Facebook for Feds' could be developed and administered by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB,) or the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM.)³ However, he ultimately decided to take matters into his own hands, launching GovLoop in June 2008.

The site's content includes individual social profiles, a calendar featuring upcoming conferences and events, discussion forums and career resources. GovLoop also contains a wide array of blogs including posts from Ressler himself, a Senior Executive Service (SES) employee, and a college sports enthusiast known as the 'Hokie Guru.'

Ressler's 'Facebook for Feds' is open to all members of the government community as well as students and academics, and anyone else interested in public administration. It also welcomes government contractors to sign-up, although these users are asked to refrain from engaging in business development and marketing activities while online.⁴

Although GovLoop aims to serve employees of the U.S. government, it currently does not receive federal funding nor is endorsed formal by government entities.

Results Achieved

Although only launched recently, GovLoop has quickly generated an impressive level of user activity. As of mid-July 2008, the site boasts more than 250 members and a growing number of blogs and other engaging content. Aside from the promising quantitative metrics, Ressler is also seeing early personal success stories immerge from GovLoop.

For instance, he notes that:

'I already have a master's student in public administration at Iowa State who has connected with several government employees who have provided him advice and potential resources for his thesis.'⁵

Lessons Learned

As GovLoop expands and matures in the coming months, solid conclusions to be drawn from this bold new initiative will become apparent. For now though, it is worth noting the initial success that the site has achieved in recruiting new members exclusively through a viral, 'word-of-mouth' outreach effort.