Government 2.0 Its a Mandate (Part II Contd.)

Today, social media is being used across the world by different government agencies although governments may not be the early adopters but the proliferation of social media in the national media has ramped up its importance for governments and speedy adoption around the world. Countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, the US, and the UK have adopted social media officially and designed national level policies for this new kind of media.

The United States of America

US President Barack Obama's famous 2008 electoral campaigns social media enabled success and New York representative Anthony Weiners Weingate are not hidden from anyone. Not only American top leaders use social media for their personal use but its Web 2.0 Security Working Group (W20SWG) as Federal CIO Council (FCIOC), operating under Information Security and Identity Management Committee (ISIMC), Network and Infrastructure Security Subcommittee (NISSC), has drafted the Version 1.0 of the guidelines for the secure use of social media by its federal departments and agencies in September 2009. This set of US FCIOC guidelines clearly emphasizes its departments and agencies that adopting social media technology is a risk based decision and not a technology based one whereas its Indian counterpart is emphasizing on objective based decision-making to adopt social media.

The federal government of US has taken many social media technology based initiatives in light of the memorandum for transparency and open government to engage with the public. The Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra mentions, Web 2.0 technologies are essential to tap into the vast amounts of knowledge in communities across the country. Kundra has also developed a 5-point plan to enable the administrations agendaopen and transparent government, lowering the cost of government, cybersecurity, participatory democracy, and innovation.

In support of this US central social media policy, its several states, cities, and departments also have formulated their individual set of guidelines to regulate the use of social media like style and usage guide of the Government of Catalonias social networks, City of Seattle blogging policy, Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) social media policy, NYC social media customer use policy, Web 2.0utilizing new web tools by the US Department of Navy, social mediaThe Way Ahead for the US Coast Guard, Air Force Blog Assessment, New Media, and the Air Force.

United Kingdom

Similarly, the UK government has formulated a template Twitter strategy for government departments. For example, through its department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), it handles citizens queries through its Twitter account @BISgovuk. BIS also has a YouTube channel among its other digital channels. The health department of UK interacts with the people through its 2 Twitter accounts:

#1 @VicGovHealthfor health sector information including health alerts, careers, news, and events

 

#2 @BetterHealthGovfor consumer health information including healthy living, conditions and treatments, relationships and family, and healthy recipes.

New Zealand

On the same lines, the New Zealand government has made regulatory changes in 2010 for its public and non-public service departments under the Public Finance Act (PFA) to use Web 2.0 tools to integrate technology, social interaction, and content creation.

Australia

The Government of Australia is one of the first to deploy this media and has been very aggressively making use through its social media guidance for the agencies and staff. The Australian government has very maturely identified the objectives, opportunities, and risks associated with this platform. Therefore they have laid down precisely designed guidelines for the agencies hosting social media, and staff using social media for their personal and official use separately. The countrys cyber laws have acknowledged the risks like cybersecurity, time wastage, bandwidth, advertising, privacy, accessibility, and terms of services in the guide, and also has provided aid for their management.

Russia

Russia has also geared up to optimize the opportunities thrown by social media especially with the launch of Facebook in January 2010 as the number of users under 27 years of age increased by 376%. Presidential commission for modernization and technological development of Russia's economy through online tools has created a forum called i-Russia.ru where citizens can post comments and connect their social networks. The commission is also the first government body in Russia to get its own mobile application.

                                                                     Part III to be continued...