The lists generated from the first workshop with state agencies were presented to local government professionals at the second workshop. The local government participants were then asked to rank both lists in order of importance. The benefits were ranked as follows:

Exploratory Social Media Project: Phase I Ranking of social media benefits by local government workshop participants
Rank	Benefit/value	Number of votes
1	Information dissemination and exchange	40
2	Enhanced public safety	34
3	Enhanced collaboration	30
4	Instantaneous information sharing	27
5	Improved training capabilities	10
6	Coolness factor	8
7	Cost savings	7
8	Greater competitiveness in employee recruiting	6
9	Enhanced access for disabled	5
10	Creation of virtual communities	3
11	Documentation	1

The participants ranked the issues and areas of concerns as well. As you can see in the table below, the two groups ranked the eight individual areas of concern somewhat differently.

Exploratory Social Media Project: Phase I Ranking of social media areas of concern by local government workshop participants
Ranking by local government professionals	Ranking by state agency professionals	Area of concern	Number of votes
1	3	Governance	32
2	2	Legal and regulatory ramifications	24
3	7	Perception	23
4	5	Security	22
5	1	Resources	18
6	8	Information overload	5
7	4	Making a business case	1
8	6	Accessibility	0