There is no question that our current President and his administration have embraced the Web like never before. Speeches, pending legislation, and information on all kinds of government programs are now outlined online, including ways to get in touch and communicate directly with the government. The highest offices’ use of social media has had a trickledown effect across the Capitol, with everyone from aides to Senators and even the Pentagon getting on the Internet/social media bandwagon. The one group that seemed to be slow to embrace these tools and methods was the government’s Small Business Administration. That was until recently; the SBA now has a presence on YouTube.
In a recent piece from Reuters, scribe Deborah Cohen noted that amongst some mixed reviews, the SBA has looked to embrace social media and Internet tools with ways to help out small businesses. They are starting by offering informational videos via the popular video sharing site. Said SBA Administrator Karen Mills (via a press release), “With millions of visitors, most of them under 35, YouTube offers a prime opportunity to use current technology and the appeal of a popular online platform to further promote the agency’s programs and services.”
Enough has been written about how the Web is filled with useful information at our fingertips – with that being said, these videos may provide some useful nuggets for small business owners to view on their own time.
Click here or here for two of the videos uploaded in a series entitled SBA Delivering Success, take a look and be the judge as to whether the information included would be useful for your business.
What do you think? Is this a useful addition for the SBA or do you feel that the same way that George Cloutier, a small business turnaround expert and author noted within the Reuters story: “SBA officials should be spending less time worrying about YouTube and more time on the thousands of small businesses that fail every week. We’ll lose half a million to a million small businesses while they’re worrying about the next generation.”
Image courtesy of the Small Business Administration
