A government sometimes accused of being too secretive may be trying to change its image.
In September 2011, the Canadian government committed to the “open government” initiative, which seeks to promote the availability and accessibility of government information.
Last November, the Treasury Board released the Guidelines for External Use of Web 2.0, which they said would encourage public servants to make better use of social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.
The guidelines state that its purpose is to “develop guidance for personnel on the use of Web 2.0 that addresses expected behaviours, benefits, risks and consequences for all types of potential use.”
But while the document encourages departments to make further use of social media, public servants must follow the rules of the mammoth 31-page document.
And those rules can be pretty exacting. Section 4.1 of the guidelines instructs departments to assign a senior official, who would be in charge of overseeing tweets before they went public. This official would have to collaborate with a variety of different department representatives, such as information management and legal services.
Paradoxically, a previous section in the guideline states “Government of Canada departments are encouraged to use Web 2.0 tools and services as an efficient and effective additional channel to interact with the public.”
Mary Francoli, a communications expert and Carleton University professor, argued that while the guidelines aren’t perfect, “they give the green light to public servants that it is OK to interact with Canadians in the online environment.”
For a government which maintains tight information control, it’s a big step.
“Social media serves as an additional platform where the government can provide information and engage with citizens. Theoretically, this is another avenue to ‘free’ information, and to listen to the problems and thoughts of citizens,” Francoli said.
“There is a huge tension. Governments are not used to a world with social media. There is a lot of nervousness around it,” said David Eaves, an open government advocate.
Eaves and Francoli both believe this to be a good first step; stressing that these are not the official guidelines, but rather a template for guidelines to be established down the line.
“The upside is that government ministries have to discuss the issue of using social media. It recognizes that social media is important,” Eaves said. “It forces some conservative civil servants to think outside the box.”
