When the governor's office first began setting up a YouTube page for Timothy M. Kaine, they quickly learned there would be some bugs to work out.

Within five minutes of posting a video of one of the governor's town hall meetings in Southwest Virginia, they got a call.

Do you know that one of the related videos that pops up on the screen is from Playboy?

"So we're still working some things out," explained Jeff Tiller, deputy press secretary for the governor, adding that he learned the problem stemmed from the use of similar words in the videos' titles.

This was just one of the examples given Wednesday as government communication specialists gathered from across the state for their annual meeting in Glen Allen to talk about the challenges of working with new media, such as podcasting, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and others.

"The tools we use to get information out to the press have exploded," said Renee Dallman, communications specialist for James City County.

"Now we're e-mailing bloggers, updating a listserv and putting our work on YouTube and Facebook. Our audience is changing. We have to continue to adapt and change the way we provide information to our citizens."

The group heard presentations both from some of their own colleagues making forays with the new technology as well as from the journalism community who told them that the press, too, is grappling to keep up with the changes as society as a whole shifts the way it receives information.

"The Web allows us to interact with people in a way newspapers and TV can't," said Debora Wenger, associate professor of media convergence and new media at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Wenger cited two recent statistics as examples: 46 percent of Americans use the Web, e-mail or text messages to get news and while advertising spending remained flat for their first quarter of the year, advertising spending for the Web was up 15 percent.

"If people question the need for a Web presence, I think this is your answer," she said. "It's a key source of information for people in this country."

According to studies, while it took 18 years for 50 percent of the population to have a home computer, Wenger said, it only took 10 years for that same population to have broadband Internet at home.

"I think the audience is way ahead of us and they're pulling us with them," she said.

Wenger told the group about a student of hers who was working on a story about crime on campus. When she told him he needed to talk to victims, he didn't even leave his seat. He created a Facebook page for VCU crime victims and within three hours had 48 members.

The Arlington Police Department has created a MySpace page for itself, including safety information, requests for tips and videos. One video, which shows sound and images in a hidden camera from a police "bait car" that officers use to trick car thieves, has received more than 6,000 page views.

Tiller, with the governor's office, explained that several people had wanted to put videos of the governor on YouTube for the past two years, but ran into difficulties, such as the time and cost of filming and editing; finding large enough online server space to hold the videos; and having the money to do it all.

Finally, they just bought their own $400 video camera that Tiller tries to take everywhere they go and use when he thinks something's important. Though they often put press conferences online, which has later helped them when the governor's been questioned about a statement he made, Tiller sees other uses and benefits.

He recalled a moment in Southwest Virginia when Kaine, who plays the harmonica, joined the band on stage.

"That would have been a perfect two-minute clip," he said, adding that he was also happily surprised to receive phone calls from residents thankful that Kaine's town hall meetings were posted online because they couldn't attend the meetings.

"The only thing I'm trying to do is make the governor more accessible."

Several communications professionals who attended the annual meeting said they did so both to get to know their colleagues, but also to improve their skills.

"The discussion about new media and the creative things local governments are doing with new media is very interesting because I think people think local governments are not going to take such risks," said Glenn Birch, public and media relations director with Virginia Credit Union.

"I thought the Arlington Police Department page and the idea for the video of the governor on the harmonica was cool. They get it."