Paul Chaney, author of The Digital Handshake, posed the following poll question recently on Smartblog.com and to the well-connected readers of SmartBrief: “There’s a lot of talk about how social networking can improve the process of government. In terms of social-media adoption, do you think the government is playing catch-up with the private sector or is on par with it?”

People answering the poll question were given four answers to choose from and the resulting numbers reveal a giant vein of skepticism running through social media elite about the government’s progress.

The results of the poll:

•  Government officials wouldn’t understand the meaning of the term “transparency” if it hit them in the face.  Nearly half, 47%, of the respondents chose this answer.

•  It is definitely in catch-up mode.  32% of those polled thought this was close to the truth.

•  The government is doing a good job of using social media on par with the private sector.  Only 15% of the respondents thought that this was true.

•  I have no comment, Senator.  This interesting answer to the question actually drew 6% of the votes.

Granting that the views expressed are from people who frequent sites like Smartblog.com and have completely embraced social media into their lives, it still sends a message to the White House that they have a long way to go before they get to Tipperary.

“It’s pretty clear that most SmartBrief on Social Media readers feel the White House hasn’t been able to fulfill its lofty goals of providing more transparency through technology,” says Chaney.Despite the negative results of the survey, Chaney does believe that the government is at least headed in the right direction. “I’m encouraged that, whether you agree with his politics or not, we have a president who sees the advantages of a collaborative, grassroots approach to government. Whether the government will become a ‘platform’ of, for, and by the people remains to be seen.”

There are clear signs, however, that progress is indeed being made. Efforts to increase transparency through the use of social media aren’t just going on at the federal level of government. In October the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, published a story on Mashable about the progress his city has made using social media tools on their website. And not long ago OhMyGov previewed the state of Utah’s very cool new website at Utah.gov where they are also using the latest technologies.

In the cases of San Francisco and Utah, both relied on the private sector to provide the expertise and technical assistance they needed to go to the next level.  This is something that the U.S. Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra is a firm believer in.  When and to what extent federal agencies do this, however, is still an open question.