NASA has experimented with a wide variety of tools to manage its social outreach efforts, said Jason Townsend, deputy manager of the agency's social media team. The agency has to deal with a large volume of, shall we say, wide-ranging requests from members of the public. "The questions that come in sometimes are frankly off the wall," Townsend said.

But as the social realm enters a more mature phase, Townsend warned against too much formalization and bureaucratization in managing outreach. "Some structure is good," he said, but agencies should be careful to avoid "overly boxing it in" at this stage.

Read more: http://www.nextgov.com/technology-news/tech-insider/2012/06/how-social-media-puppy/56069/