Government & Social Media : « Government 2.0 »

Last week (25-27 february 2010) the Euprera Spring Symposium took place in Ghent. This year’s theme “Social Media go Mainstream”, dealt with a variety of “New Challenges for Internal Communication, Reputation, Education and The Public Sector”.

As a true “stropken” (born & educated in Ghent), I’d like to draw your attention to a presentation brought by Bart Rosseau, responsible for the communication strategy of the City of Ghent. Bart Rosseau explains why and how Ghent added social media to its communication strategy, thereby evolving from traditional media to “Government 2.0”. As we would say in Ghent: “Oas da nie wijs es …”.

Why using social media?

• Government communication is quite complex: it covers a very broad spectrum of messages, with different tools, by different spokespersons. But most importantly:  the messages need to reach EVERBODY in the city. Using social media, allows to address those segments that are difficult to reach with traditional media (e.g. the City Magazine), as for instance the youngsters.
• Social media allow reaching segmented groups with specific, direct messages (e.g. parents, inhabitants of a certain street, companies …).
• Their informal, creative character enhances the public’s interest in politics, making the decision-making process itself a part of the public arena and letting citizens interact. Social media bring you “where the people are”. It involves the citizens in the city projects; it makes ‘talking to the government’ less intimidating.
• Social media can be used to create a good “vibe” around certain events, at a very low cost.

Overcoming the challenges faced by Government 2.0?

Mr. Rosseau also warns for some pitfalls when using social media in governmental communication.

• Using social media broadens your communication toolbox. This means that you, more than ever, need to plan ahead, thinking about your goals, target audience and tone of voice.
• Maintaining a consistent online corporate identity is probably one of the biggest challenges: who is allowed to speak for the city, how and at any given time?
• Last, but not least: social media can be the right tool for government communication, but not the only tool for communication. Let’s not forget that a lot of people have no access to computers and/or internet, and thus still rely on the traditional media to receive information.

Ghent Government 2.0 success story: “Gent over Morgen”

With its project “Gent over Morgen”, Ghent wanted to apply the two-way symmetrical model (as developed by James Grunig), informing its citizens about the city’s long term strategy (“Ghent 2020”), and on the other hand also asking people about their expectations of Ghent in the long run. This project combined the social media Youtube, Facebook & the city’s blogsite Gentblogt.

Via YouTube people were invited to visualise their ideas about the future of Ghent, or what they would like to see changed.

The facebook-group Gent over Morgen, created a platform where people could show there affiliation with the project and were informed about upcoming events.

The most effective medium in gathering people’s feedback on the project was Gentblogt. This is one of the more active cityblogs in Belgium, and was awarded with best Cityblog. Gentblogt launched one question each week for ten weeks running. Quickly, elaborating and challenging discussions coloured with personal stories, scientific references and gossip stories emerged; providing the city with a clear image of the topics people cared about and where they saw the best opportunities for Ghent to grow.

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