Daikos.Net

The Social Network as a Government Vehicle

Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Wikipedia, MySpace and others have simply revolutionized the way we act online and socialize on the web. From regarding the web as a place to publish your content for others to read (if they find it), the web has truly become a place where people meet and interact.

The connection and interaction between people on these sites and with these tools has just amazed us all. It is slowly but steadily putting the individual and its personal features center, and instead of focusing on what they may have recently published (a hurdle for many), the individual is right there, able and ready to share the things they know with people they know.

The hurdle to share things with a more focused group of people, whether being relatives, schoolmates, former collegues or friends, is much lower than just throwing it out in cyberspace to a bunch (if you’re lucky) of anonymous readers. Suddenly the web becomes more humane, simply because sites become people.

The one group lagging behind here are Governments. Few Governments, and their agencies, have taken on board the obvious challenge of, through social networks, actually using the possibility to engage in a direct dialogue with their constituency. The mantra should of course be “Follow the Audience“. Traditional media simply isn’t enough if you need to reach your audience. Simply because a lot of them aren’t there like they used to be.

Some US Agencies have realized that established concepts as Town Hall meetings, could be webified to engage also online participants. But I think we’ve only seen the beginning of a new era in utilizing the new social networks for reaching the audience. What if Homeland Security announced and screencasted the Town Hall meeting on Facebook, and thus reached some of the 11.798 people that has signed on the Facebook group to stop the RealID act?

People are social beeings and the tools now present, and used by millions, show how people in new ways form groups, discuss real issues, and form oppinions in foras mostly out of reach for Governments. How can governments expect to shape the future without being part of it?

The same question applies to the internal communication challenges within Governments. Why are most Governments still pretending that knowledge is a fixed entity that can be reproduced in an intranet article and published once for employees to read some time next year, if they find it. Don’t they notice that people still ask each other in the hallway or cantina where to find things and who to ask for help on certain issues they are strugling with right now. Social Networks web 2.0 style, installed as an intranet would create Government wide hallways and cantinas to pose those questions right from the workplace.

No wonder why Dustin Moskovitz is leaving Facebook for a new startup. He, if any, understands how social networks are set to revolutionize how corporate and government entities work internally. For now, those of us searching for new ways to create a functioning intranet based on Social Networking are turning our eyes towards BuddyPress, and Liferay as open source alternatives.

The future is now, and Governments has to adapt in ways that restore their dialogue with the public and thereby their overall relevance to their constituency.

The Audience has left the building…….