Introduction : Defining Social Media & Government

Welcome to Government 2.0: Social Media and Government. This blog is my final project for CS400H. As we have learned about forms of participatory democracy online this semester, I have chosen to examine the ways in which citizens can engage with government via social media, the ways in which the government participates in, as well as limits forms of social media and Web 2.0.

First, I need to define what I am referring to when I talk about social media on this blog. According to Wikipedia, social media is "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Social media is used by individuals, as well as business, for personal and professional uses. Social media can take the form of citizen participation/journalism, or be used for more social and personal reasons in the form of social networking. Social media ranges from blogs, microblogs, wikis, to the uploading of video and pictures such as Youtube and Flickr. The ease of access to publishing and the encouragement for anyone to create and upload content has created a citizen filled media sphere, online at least.

Throughout this blog I will be examining social media in regards to its involvement with the government. This blog will mainly focus on Canada’s government usage, with comparisons to the US government spotlighted as well, to compare how two democratic governments have embraced social media.

The government cannot ignore social media, as it has become so ubiquitous. If the citizens are engaging in it, and government wants to engage with their citizens, then the government should be using it as well. However, the way in which this is done needs to be utilized properly, as not all forms will actually be beneficial. Also, when the government is in social media, it is important to critically examine how much citizen participation and interaction can actually occur without the government trying to control every output.