More government bodies listen to views online

The aim is to start taking public sentiment into account in policy-making
Alicia Wong, Today Online 4 Nov 09;

IN A move that seems to give more attention to online voices, some government bodies are experimenting with what has become a growing practice among private companies - monitoring online chatter and applying appropriate feedback to policy-making.

From as early as June, ministries and agencies have been seeking social media intelligence services, as tenders on the official e-procurement portal, Gebiz, show.

The latest are the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which put up tenders for a three-month trial to monitor online sentiment in various areas related to their ministries last month.

Their requirements included round-the-clock social media analysts to evaluate online sentiment, as well as daily, weekly and monthly reports of their branding, reputational health and trends.

Such efforts go to strengthen its strategic planning and "complement existing environment scanning methodologies", said MOM, which wanted surveillance on at least 100 social media sites.

According to the tender documents, MOM's objectives are to "monitor public sentiments and conversations relating to MOM", "improve and enhance the MOM brand equity by having a better insight of the social media" and "ensure timely rectification of misperceptions of MOM".

Most of the government bodies had similar objectives, but some agencies, like the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, were just focused on a particular project.

In this case, it was the Next Generation National Broadband Network.

The three-month trial started in September.

In June, as part of its "e-engagement efforts", the CPF Board also called for a tender to monitor online views of its financial planning website IM$avvy and other CPF schemes. The winning bidder would have to come up with appropriate campaigns to improve perceptions of IM$avvy and engage and educate top influencers and commentators for certain sites.

REACHING OUT

Since it appears the public sector is paying more attention to netizens' views, and has the capability to monitor what is said online, could - or should - the next step be to engage with netizens outside of Government e-engagement portal, Reach, or online sites of mainstream media?

Communications and New Media department lecturer from the National University of Singapore Gui Kai Chong said listening to online chatter would enable the Government to "gather useful information about sentiments on the ground" that could result in more "well-formulated policies that truly address people's concerns".

However, engaging on various online platforms could be "counter-productive" if it were to raise people's expectations "excessively" when it comes to the Government's e-engagement initiatives.

As pointed out by Ms Tania Chew, the head of 360 Digital Influence Consulting at Ogilvy Public Relations, whether it is a private organisation or government agency, "simply starting something on Facebook or Twitter without a proper plan is meaningless and will not have long-term results".

"Social media is not just a channel to push a message," she added. Instead, it is about "real people" and a "free flow exchange of ideas online".

So, rather than engaging across various websites, what the Government perhaps should look at, is showing that it does take into account online comments.

Mr Gui said more Singaporeans would "hope to see signs that the Government actually listened to their ideas online and acknowledge those contributions explicitly". He also suggested engaging netizens in "face-to-face" for "more tangible" interactions.

ONLINE ACTIVITY

Other ministries MediaCorp spoke to, such as the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts, said they had an in-house team to track feedback from mainstream and online media.

The Ministry of Education, which also does online monitoring in-house, is "looking at various online monitoring services available in the market".

The Ministry of Health (MOH), which has grown increasingly active online with its "Health Minister Says" MOH Blog, Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube channel, has a new media unit to study online comments and discussion forums. Response to its outreach is "encouraging", said a spokesperson.