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Friday, February 24, 2012
Using Social Networking to Interact with the Government
In today's time, nearly one third of online U.S. adults use digital tools, other than websites, to get information from government agencies or officials. Many of these tools have just recently been adopted by government agencies. Although, despite their popularity in today's mainstream culture, many people still get the information they need from traditional government websites. A recent survey showed that 13% of adult internet users follow a blog posted by a government official or agency, 15% of users signed up to receive email alerts from a government official or agency, and 15% watched a video on a government website or social network page. As far as demographics are concerned, government social media users look very similar to the internet population as a whole. There is, however, one statistic that stuck out in my mind. Government social media users tend to be more affluent and educated than the internet population at large. Compared with those that have only attended high school or are in college currently but haven't graduated, those with a college diploma are more likely to follow a government agency or official on a social networking site (22% of college graduates in the last 5 years). Are government social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) more convenient for people to receive government information than reading long articles on an agencie's webpage? Or do many people not take them seriously since social networking sites are supposed to be fun and light hearted?
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I think government social networking sites are more convenient for people to receive information from the government. This is because a lot of people are always on these social sites, so they can easily get information from the government through the sites. Even people who might not be really interested in government issues might get interested if their attention is being taken from side advertisements on these sites
ReplyDeleteI would personally say that it all depends on the social network. With twitter you can get tweets from almost any government outlet you want which almost always has a link directing you to the actual article. With Facebook you have less options of government departments, but more options as far as individuals, which leads into personal news and personal opinions. Now to answer the original question, I think the social networks are definitely more convenient to receive news about the government. The problem is deciding what is actual news and what is personal opinion. I think that as technology advances more and more of the population will choose to get their government news via social networks just because instead of having to go find the news it will come to them, and a lot of people would prefer to read a one liner that sums up the article compared to the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteI like your logic on this Jacob. You said more and more of the population will get their government news via social networks and I agree with you that the one liner summing up an article or decision is much easier to read and understand then having to read a big production.
DeleteI agree Jacob,
ReplyDeleteFor the most part any real NEWs or information from the government probably won't be just sent over social media. If their is any factual substance to government information, it probably has a political twist to it and is not that reliable. I believe that the government should not use social media to inform the public, rather, use official media outlets that are reliable.
Government officials are not able to / supposed to publish or inform the public on any issues personally. BUT, in times of dis-stress this could be an option for informing mass populations on what to do. If the internet system is available.
But for the most part, I would not take any information published, supposedly from the government to heart. Especially if it's a blog site. Blog sites are not the most reliable and are mostly of opinion. (case and point)