Social media: Does the government finally get it?

Downing Street today ran a live blog as George Osborne delivered his speech in the House of Commons. Call me cynical but I expected it be the usual standard governmental exercise which simply paid lip service to online engagement. I didn't watch it live as I was involved in my own live blog but when that finished I decided to replay the government's efforts.I was shocked to discover that negative comments such as those above had been approved and published.

 

It's very early days for our new coalition government but there does seem to be a real drive towards embracing social media as a way of engaging with the public. The Programme for Government document agreed between David Cameron and Nick Clegg, for instance, was open to public comment and over 9,500 opinions were posted and like the previous administration Downing Street is active in its use of Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. I met some of the digitally experienced civil servants who were working with the previous government and trying to get politicians to embrace social media. I really hope those civil servants are still there.

 

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying the government is brilliant at social media. There's a lot more to do. Politicians and civil servants, for instance, need to start actually replying to users' comments on social networks as responses are severely lacking. But they do appear to be getting there. If today's publication of negative comments on a live blog on the Downing Street website is anything to go by, we could eventually see the online engagement that us internet geeks crave from the powers-that-be.

This post originally appeared on my personal blog here.