Governments face unique challenges with regards to using social media. What are some of these challenges and how can governments overcome them? This deck addresses these issues and draws up a path to success.

1. DIGITAL MEDIA ACROSS ASIA Government Uses of Social Media Ingrid Mak Ng Hui Min Ong Wee Kiat Bob Michelle Sng Suat Li Naresh s/o Vijaykumaran Joseph Wee Yeong Yew 3 March 2010

3. However, they are not sure how exactly to use social media“I think we've reached the tipping point, when the question is not whether government should embrace social networking technologies, but how most productively to use them.” – Dr. Steve Kelman, Weatherhead Professor of Public Management, Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government – “The Singapore government, as a whole, is not averse to using new media. We’re not ruling out the opportunities it presents us. But we’re not completely sure how to use it yet.” – Goh Yam Song, Deputy Director, Emergency Preparedness, Land Transport Authority, Singapore – “We’re still learning. It’s not easy to make this transition (to new media). It’s like going from sea to land… you’re changing your medium and you need to get comfortable with it. But we’re working hard at it.” – Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister, Singapore – Learning how to use social media can be tricky because governments face a variety of unique challenges…

6. For instance, malicious comments about different races and religions posted by netizens can lead to outrage among different segments of society

8. Each department usually only sanctions one high ranking official as a spokesperson

9. May not have the time to converse with netizensDisastrous outcomes can result when governments use social media if these challenges are not well managed and overcome…

11. Malaysia’s PM, Najib Razak, uses social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter

12. However Malaysia Information, Communications, and Culture Minister, Dr. Rais Yatim, said that Malaysians, especially Muslims, must avoid being immersed in Facebook and Twitter

14. Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) launched an online portal that captures and display tweets from the twittersphere with the hashtag #tday09 so that students can dedicate well wishes to their teachers

15. However, most of teachers who were supposed to receive the well wishes did not know about the portal and this led bloggers to question MOE’s objective for the campaign and criticise its execution

17. One student used vulgarities in his #tday09 tweet and it was displayed on the portalClearly, some things can go wrong when social media is not used wisely. But there certainly also are cases of governments that have successfully used social media…

19. Recognised that different demographic segments of the population are comfortable with different communication channels

20. Utilised a range of channels including a webpage, a Facebook page, an online forum, and an user generated blog to reach citizens

21. Saw active discussion on the discussion board about issues ranging from transportation to the environment

22. Till date, thousands of user inputs have been gathered

24. Netizens were “free to comment on any issue they feel strongly about, as long as their comments (were) not deemed inappropriate and / or insensitive to other users, particularly with regard to race and religion.“

25. Allowed people to feedback through the medium they were most comfortable with

26. Gave everyone an opportunity to speak up whether it be through posting a short comment on Facebook, debating on the forum, or writing an entire article on the forum

27. Staff monitored the postings for compilation and sorting and sent all feedback to the relevant ministries for their consideration

28. Accelerated the bureaucratic process to allow for quicker government responses

29. Relevant ministries’ responses were posted in a dedicated section, “Your Feedback, Our Response”

31. In addition to the English language version of the commercial, its YouTube page showed Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil language versions

32. YouTube page contained a link to its Facebook page

33. Both pages allowed people to comment on the commercial

34. Facebook page invited people to upload a photo of themselves with their partners and to share what makes them a beautifully imperfect couple

35. 10 couples with the most votes would win cash prizes

36. YouTube video garnered over 720,000 views

37. Netizens copied the video and re-posted it on their own YouTube pages

38. Facebook page saw around 100,000 unique visitors, 14,000 fans, and 370 contest submissions

40. Wanted to promote family values through awareness of its campaign

41. High quality television commercial

42. Won a Golden Kancil at the Kancil Awards 2009

43. Humorous and moving

44. Integrated campaign

45. Many avenues of exposure created many opportunities for people to discover the campaign through a channel they frequent

46. Acclaimed commercial led people to YouTube to search for it

47. People shared the YouTube video and it spread virally

48. Links from its YouTube video page drove traffic to its Facebook page

49. Spoke the people’s language, used the people’s medium

50. Speaking the languages of the four main ethnic groups in Singapore and using both traditional and social media, people from all segments of society were able to come into contact with the campaign and understand it

51. Engagement

53. People were able to share their views by making a written submission either online or by post, by attending a community roundtable discussion, or by posting a comment onto an online consultation forum

54. Received hundreds of rigorously argued viewpoints

55. Used Twitter to update people of new posts on its forum and also to listen to and converse with people who shared their views

56. Conversation continues till today even though the online consultation ended in mid 2009

58. Specifically addressed the issues of advertising, impersonation, offensive language, slander, spam, threats, etc.

59. Prevented appearance of inappropriate/irrelevant content

60. Frequent and prompt replies to comments

61. Showed that the government was indeed reading their comments and taking their views into consideration

62. Allowed for continuous conversation relays

63. Informed people of new postings through tweets, comment alerts, and RSS feeds

64. Kept people aware of new content

65. New viewpoints triggered even more discussion

66. Some comments came from people who had been reading but felt no urge to contribute until then

67. Ensured continuous involvementFrom these 3 cases, a number of best practices can be observed…

71. Different metrics measure different things

72. The number of page views and mentions are good indicators of awareness

73. The number of comments could be a good gauge of participation in initiatives to gather feedback

74. The number of fans and positive comments are possible signs of strong support

76. Different analytic tools have different functions. Be sure to understand them well before using them.

78. Gauge existing web presence

80. Set up a collaborative knowledge network and educate people on it

81. Reach out to key influencers

83. Respond and re-engage accordingly

84. Measure performance

85. Rectify problemsWhere necessary, re-visit Stage 1 and review the analysis and formula

86. Ingrid Mak Ng Hui Min Ong Wee Kiat Bob Michelle Sng Suat Li Naresh s/o Vijaykumaran Joseph Wee Yeong Yew Government Uses of Social Media Bibliography Burrowes, B. (2009). Social Media Proves a Hit for MCYS Campaign [Online exclusive0. Marketing-Interactive. Retrieved February 20, 2010, from http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/12954 Hicks, R. (2009). Security Officials Ponder Use of Social Media [Online exclusive]. FutureGov. Retrieved February 12, 2010, from http://www.futuregov.net/articles/2009/oct/27/security-officials-muse-social-media-intelligence-/ Hicks, R. (2009). Singapore to Engage New Media at General Elections [Online exclusive]. FutureGov. Retrieved March 2, 2010, from http://www.futuregov.net/articles/2009/feb/24/singapore-engage-new-media-general-elections/ Kelman, S. (2009, September 22). Social Media in Government: Welcome to the Tipping Point. Retrieved March 2, 2010, from http://fcw.com/Blogs/Lectern/2009/09/Social-networking-and-government-the-tipping-point.aspx

87. Ingrid Mak Ng Hui Min Ong Wee Kiat Bob Michelle Sng Suat Li Naresh s/o Vijaykumaran Joseph Wee Yeong Yew Government Uses of Social Media Bibliography Kok, A. (2008). Singapore Govt Experiments with Social Media [Online exclusive]. FutureGov. Retrieved February 12, 2010, from http://www.futuregov.net/articles/2008/sep/17/singapore-experiments-social-media/ Maia, D. (2009, August 31). MOE’s Teachers’ Day Dedication Portal #tday09. Retrieved March 2, 2010, from http://www.daphnemaia.net/moes-teachers-day-dedication-portal-tday09 Malaysians Advised Against Being Immersed in Facebook, Twitter. (2010, January 16). The Star Online. Retrieved February 16, 2010, from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/16/nation/20100116175608&sec=nation MCYS’ 2010 Project with LB after Kancil Win! [Online exclusive]. Adoimagazine. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://www.adoimagazine.com/newhome/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5082:mycs-2010-project-with-lb-after-kancil-win&catid=1:breaking-news&Itemid=5

88. Ingrid Mak Ng Hui Min Ong Wee Kiat Bob Michelle Sng Suat Li Naresh s/o Vijaykumaran Joseph Wee Yeong Yew Government Uses of Social Media Bibliography Most S’poreans Support Broad Thrust & Objectives of Budget: REACH. (2010, February 24). Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved February 24, 2010, from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1039638/1/.html Tay, D. (2009, August 21). Thoughts on Teachersday.sg and #tday09. Retrieved February 20, 2010 from http://uniquefrequency.com/2009/08/31/thoughts-on-teachersdaysg-and-tday09/ Zestful One. (2009, January 19). Malaysian Twitter Users Put RaisYatim on Trending Topics #yorais. Retrieved February 16, 2010 from http://me.zestful.org/2010/01/malaysian-twitter-users-put-rais-yatim-on-trending-topics-yorais/