Has Social Media Changed How We Interact With The Government ...

The day has finally arrived. Government officials have recognized and embraced the Internet and digital media.

?This is no longer a gimmick. This is how the American people want to receive their news and want to hear from us.?? Nick Schaper, New-Media Director for House Minority Leader John Boehner.

But how far have we really come?

No matter which generation you?re from, the evolution of how government forms and information are distributed to citizens has transformed dramatically. Before social media came along, before even dial-up internet was introduced, people waited in long lines at post offices to mail off or receive government forms, bulletins lined local library walls and political candidates stood on the back of parked trucks on dusty roads giving their speeches, shaking the hands of the men and women voters.

Fast-forward to today and virtually everything has been transferred to online. That?s not say some people still enjoy going to their local post office, but for the majority, people appreciate the easy access to important forms, government updates dealing with laws, and vital records on almost everything.

We have a Presidential election unfolding in front of us and for the most part the big conversation and subsequent data analysis has been stemming from these social platforms. The ?Fireside Chat? of Presidents past has now moved to live Q&As on Tumblr and promoted hashtags on Twitter to endorse campaigns.

The US isn?t the only country who has gone digital. The UK has also been working on online platforms. Gov.uk houses all government departments and documents ? even going as far as having a petition page, giving citizens the opportunity to have petitions seen by parliament if it manages to secure at least 100k signatures.

The adoption of online availability from the government hasn?t been the only update; politicians, states, and federal agencies like the Marines and NASA have all taken on social media as a means to connect to the masses. These platforms are not just being used for publication ? governmental arms such as the FBI have begun to use it for monitoring, covering everything from homeland security to geo-location searches.

It?s these listening benefits that have arisen from the creation of this ?online citizenship? that attract the government and businesses. Both taking advantage of tools such as our own to maximize this giant shift from paper to screen.

Historical documents and pictures that many of our grandparents could only have dreamt to see are also now online. The Library of Congress has sixteen thousand photos on Flickr, making it easy for anyone either tech-savvy or not to take a glimpse into our history and certainly making it easy to see just how far we?ve come.

Unlike the past, where conversations around political issues or ideas were left for town halls and Sunday suppers- these social mediums attract and educate more people to participate, listen and talk about issues within a now global community. The benefits of tracking this social activity are massively valuable. There is now a realization that digital is no longer an option for the government, it?s essential.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/has-social-media-changed-how-we-interact-with-the-government-0310497

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