In early September 2005, just days after Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans and enacted similar damage on FEMA’s reputation, I moved from Austin to D.C. to heed a call from the White House to serve as the chief speechwriter for FEMA’s newly-appointed director.

Back then, social media was the last thing FEMA was prepared to handle. Today, FEMA is one of many federal agencies using Twitter and other social media channels to reach their customers: taxpayers.

Network World recently reported, “From NASA to the General Services Administration, more federal agencies are embracing Twitter as another Web-based channel to communicate news and engage in conversations with U.S. citizens.” The site also provided 10 tips for early-adopting federal staffers ranging from “Identify a business problem you are trying to solve. Don’t deploy social media tools just to appear cool” to “Set aside enough resources for social media efforts. These channels require ongoing monitoring and constant enhancement.”

Becoming Twitter-friendly is a big step for FEMA, in terms of social media utilization, but it took a number of mainstream media disasters to get FEMA and other agencies to this point.

FEMA was stuck in an information-based approach to communications, and has only recently stepped out of it somewhat. The agency used to think: If we put it out, that’s when and what people knew. Of course, that was until Anderson Cooper showed up in New Orleans along with the rest of the mainstream media. The end result was FEMA getting the brunt of the blame for Katrina response woes.

And over the next 12 months, FEMA made front-page and top-of-the-hour news for everything from asbestos in trailers for victims to fraud with millions of taxpayer dollars for the relief effort. Even in an organization with some of the country’s expert emergency managers and first responders, I was amazed by how much time was wasted deciding when to share information and what information to share, which put the agency in a reactive position more often than not.

That said, it was a real delight to read in January that FEMA coordinated its first-ever Twitter press conference with my old boss and then-Director David Paulison. The agency received kudos from the blogosphere for its transparency, including providing a full transcript of the online conference that included a FEMA Public Affairs staffer’s explanations to Paulison of what an RSS feed is.

Fittingly, it wasn’t until I moved back to Austin and began consulting companies on social media that I would have a chance to have a conversation with the gentleman who provided that explanation to Paulison and just so happens to be the social media guru over at FEMA, John Shea (sitting across from former FEMA Director David Paulison).

John was in town for the National Hurricane Conference here in Austin and we talked at length about how FEMA, possibly more than any other agency, stands to benefit by being more proactive and embracing the more transparent and engagement-based approach to communication.

As one social media blogger wrote, “For an organization that is responsible for coordinating action during times of crisis and for pro-actively communicating with the public about those actions, this is a heartening step.”

Likewise for the other federal agencies, but social media could also have a place in state and local government departments. And, I’m hoping it doesn’t take a Katrina-sized event to get them started because there is so much opportunity.

For example, imagine if you noticed a fire hydrant was loose and spewing gallon after gallon of water into the road…you could Tweet or send a direct message on Twitter or Facebook to your city’s public works department and then the nearest public works official could go by and tighten up the screws.

Maybe you’re on a road trip across state and get a Tweet from the state highway patrol saying there is a major accident at an upcoming exit and you re-route. Or perhaps the local health department notices a high number of people reporting illness in early November and moves up their flu vaccination timetable to serve more people.

Regardless of how significant the alert or information, Twitter is just one of many social media tools that could potentially save lives and countless taxpayer dollars, not to mention resulting in fewer battles with mainstream media for public affairs departments simply looking to get critical information to the people without political slant.

I’ll be attending the Next American City Magazine’s Vanguard Conference for urban leaders in D.C. next month and will have more on how federal, state and local governments can look to social media as a way to engage in conversations with taxpayers and answer President Obama’s call for greater openness “to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.”

The President believes, “Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government,” and I couldn’t agree more.