Social Media in the Public Sector

Having worked in the government’s administrative office in a developing country for four years, I really understand how important public support is for the stability of a regime. I have witnessed how public criticism can be so powerful that it may lead to deteriorating government popularity. In Indonesia, several subsidy reduction initiatives were delayed by demonstrations and strong public refusal, electoral outcomes are determined by the popularity of the candidates, and local officials were removed from power as a result of scandalous stories that triggered public outrage.

After reading the article “The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand” by Barwise and Meehan (2010) and “The Dragonfly Effect” by Aaker and Smith (2011), I realized that social media could become a powerful tool to mitigate the impact of public criticism and educate people on new government initiatives. In this sense, I think social media has a bigger impact on the government than its private counterpart. For example, the government is always faced with a dilemma between promoting its new programs to gain public support and budget shortage. Rather than using advertisements and competing with other ads to get people’s attention, it can utilize social media for introducing new programs, gauging public opinions, and gaining supports. Obama’s electoral campaign through social networking that led to his victory in the 2008 U.S. presidential election is a great example of effective social media utilization. In Egypt, social media was utilized to organize demonstrations. It has devastating impacts for the Egyptian government that eventually led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

One way that I think the government can utilize this communication channel is to improve their public relations. It can become an effective tool to get connected with people and be a reliable source of information for the media. I think a major issue with government agencies is their bureaucratic structures that sometimes limit their ability to respond to public criticisms and comments swiftly. This is particularly important when there is a need to announce a breakdown in public services, such as power outage, or an emergency situation. Incorporating social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, into their PR strategy can also capture a broader audience, as internet penetration is experiencing a dramatic improvement in the developing countries, and make the government more responsive to new circumstances.

Another possible implementation of social media is to become a forum of discussions on new government initiatives. The advantage is threefold: (1) the government will gain valuable insights from its constituents about their aspirations and tailor an initiative to incorporate the aspirations; (2) the forum can educate people who are interested in the initiatives; and (3) by being engaged in discussions to improve a new program, people will have a sense of ownership. Thus, by effectively utilizing social media, the government can build support and increasing the probability of success of its programs.

All in all, I think social media is beneficial not only for private companies, but more importantly for government agencies as public opinion is so important for maintaining their popularity. The government can take advantage of this new tool to enhance its PR strategy and gain support. There might be some differences in deploying social media in the context of the public sector and its private counterpart, such as more stringent regulations, different missions (profit maximizing versus social wellbeing), or different metrics used to measure its effectiveness [Center for Continuing & Professional Education]. Nevertheless, as ordinary citizens are becoming digital citizens, social media gives a new opportunity for the government to reach them.