Thai Interior Ministry officials have been warned that they check into
Facebook too often during their working hours. As of October 1 they can only do
so during their lunch break. The official reason? They are using up too much
bandwidth, and logging on to the social-networking websites doesn't contribute
to their productivity.
But the "ban" won't
cover YouTube. The man in charge of the ministry's Internet connection says
officials there can still access the popular video site but they will make
downloads from it slower.
Nobody knows whether the
ministry's officials will be allowed to tweet or not. Apparently authorities at
the ministry aren't quite sure what the social media are really all about.
Some officials who "get
it" say many of their bosses simply don't understand where the world of
communications is headed. One younger official argued that Facebook had in fact
facilitated coordination and was now a channel for many government units to
communicate with the people. In other words, Facebook and other social media
can save both time and expenses. "You don't have to make telephone calls
and you have instant two-way communications between government agencies,"
said the official.
The reason for this state of
affairs is very obvious: the government doesn't have a social-media policy
because most Cabinet members simply don't know what it's all about. They might
have heard about it. They might have been told that the social media are "the
new thing". But most officials running this country are still too far
behind in this important trend to realise not only the importance but the
inevitability of using social media as part of their daily operations.
Even among the most
Internet-savvy of the bureaucrats and government members, the only purpose of
social media is for political manipulation rather than to serve the public
interest.
Little do they realise that
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be used to disseminate information, track the
opinions and feelings of constituents, and, on the law-enforcement side, to
hunt down criminals and monitor illegal activities. Enlightened government
agencies can not only use social media to communicate with the public but also
with each another, around the clock.
On the other side of the coin,
citizens can use the social media to demand accountability from the government
and the bureaucracy. And that is a vital element in building a real democratic
system - to which most politicians have been paying only lip service.
Citizen involvement is critical
for enhancing democratic governance and improving service delivery. And if that
is what the government is serious about, then the best way to empower the
people is to build their capacity through social media, not to view these tools
as time-wasting, futile and negative.
Social media will strengthen
citizens, civil-society organisations and other non-state actors, to hold the
government accountable and make all politicians and bureaucrats responsive to
the public's needs.
In the United States, the
Government Accountability Board recently launched a Twitter feed and opened a
new Facebook page to respond to the growing public demand for transparency from
the government. Twitter gives voters even more ways to keep up with news about
elections and government ethics. Twitter followers get the latest information
on which officials and candidates have filed paperwork, updates on actions, and
other issues of import.
Facebook and Twitter have proved
to be efficient, low-cost ways to reach citizens and provide them with improved
"customer service" - something that most bureaucrats still don't
appreciate is the most crucial key performance index to judge whether they
should stay on the job or be fired.
For the Thai government, the
issue may in the end boil down to this question: How do you explain it when a
government goes out of its way to offer computer tablets to first graders - to
show that it's serious about promoting digital education - and then bans adults
at the Interior Ministry from accessing Facebook during working hours?
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