icegov2012 proceedings

Figure 6. Language used in Hong Kong social media accounts.
5. INSPIRATION AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Government Social Media Applications
and Effects are Influenced by the
Characteristics of Social Media Platforms
Based on the different characteristics of different social media
platforms, the amount of posts, posting frequency and posting
forms on different social media platforms vary a lot. Both the
amount of posts and posting frequency on Blog are the lowest,
compared with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In addition, the
social media openness to the public has influence on the
government social media applications. The study indicates that
even though the established date of SinaMicroblog is later than
other social media platforms, the amount of followers on
SinaMicroblog is larger than that on Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube. One possible reason is that SinaMicroblog mainly
targets Chinese which have the largest population in the world. At
the mean time, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked in
Mainland China.
Each social media platform has its own characteristics which
would attract different user groups. Government agencies should
choose suitable platform to provide service to its target citizens.
5.2 Government Social Media Applications
and Effects are Influenced by the
Characteristics of Government Agencies
and Officials
This study has shown that the functional difference of government
agencies and officials would affect their performance on social
media applications. For example, Government Information
Service and Hong Kong Observatory are two different agencies.
They vary in the command of information resources, posting
techniques, and allocation of human resources and funds. As a
result, their performance on social media applications differs a lot.
Furthermore, the study has shown that government agencies open
more social media accounts than government officials.
Government agencies have professionals to manage accounts and
funds to support the daily account maintenance. On the contrast,
most government officials have to manage account by themselves.
Each additional account would put extra burden on the officials.
That may be the reason why government agencies seem to open
more accounts than government officials.
In general, different government agencies and officials have
different command of posting techniques, human resources and
funding, which would result in the performance difference.
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Government should match their own characteristics with the
social media platform to achieve the best results.
5.3 The Normalization of Government Social
Media Application Should be
Strengthened
This study has found out that there are still five percent
government accounts not identify themselves. In addition, half of
the government social media accounts, which open more than two
accounts on different social media platforms, don’t share the same
image or photo. Account identification and the same image would
help to enhance the authority of government accounts and make it
easier for citizens to recognize the government accounts.
5.4 Followings Amount Should be Enlarged
Compared with the great amount of followers of government
accounts, the followings should be enlarged. It would help the
government agencies and officials get close to the ordinary people
and know what the people are thinking.
6. CONCLUSION
With the social media playing a more and more important role in
public affairs, government using social media has become
inevitable. Mainland china can learn from the experience of social
media applications by HK government. First, mainland china can
take advantage of different types of social media platforms to
reach different netizens and realize the equalization of services
supply. Second, mainland government agencies and officials
should choose one or more suitable social media platforms and
maximize the advantages of the platform. Third, government
agencies and officials should follow more non-government
agency accounts in order to hear the voice of the people. Finally,
multiple languages should be used in social media applications to
meet the needs of different people working or traveling in China.
7. REFERENCES
[1] Landsbergen, D. (2010). Government as Part of the
Revolution: Using Social Media to Achieve Public Goals.
Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on E-
Government, pp. 243-250.
[2] Bonsón, E., Torres, L., Royo, S., & Flores, F. Local egovernment
2.0: Social media and corporate transparency in
municipalities. Government Information Quarterly, pp.123-
132
[3] Picazo-Vela, S., et al., Understanding risks, benefits, and
strategic alternatives of social media applications in the
public sector, Government Information Quarterly (2012)
[4] Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Grimes, J. M. Using ICTs to
create a culture of transparency: E-government and social
media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies.
Government Information Quarterly, 27(3), 264–271.
[5] China official microblog research report. (2011). Public
opinion and transmission laboratory.
[6] Yan Su. Internet communication analysis of Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region government. Journalism
Lover, 2011(11), pp.74-75