Three main questions were asked by our principal, the Board of Secretary Generals, heading the thirteen departments that form the Dutch national government: (1) what is currently going on with social media in general? (2) how is the national government currently dealing with social media? (3) what is the meaning for the national government and how should it deal with social media?
We see three main transitions taking place which have an effect on the national government: (a) democratization of citizens/users are not only consumers of information anymore but are increasingly becoming producers of information, (b) new practice by governmental organizations: from information protection to full transparency, and (c) the balance of powers between government and citizens is shifting from authority of the government to equality of all participants.
In essence, social media are all about interaction and communication through the Internet. Worldwide some 900 million users are in contact with each other through FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Hyves, etc. Since nearly everyone has access to information and networks through the Internet, there is a paradigm shift of powers which holds true significance to society in general and to governmental institutions in particular. The question is what does it mean for governmental institutions and their arrangements? What are the ‘pleasures’ and what are the ‘pains’ associated with social media?
With regards to the second question we have found that the departments have all different responsibilities and tasks. Therefore, they all have different needs when looking at the usage of social media. We have witnessed many different initiatives and thoughts about the future possibilities of social media. Some of the initiatives are applied for all departments like the web 2.0 application www.ambtenaar20.nl, while other initiatives are for a single department like Yammer, an internal Twitter. We have also witnessed discussions on using knowledge ‘wikis’ and ‘hubs’. We have seen a variety of measures regarding safety regulations, web monitoring and web care.
In order to answer the third question we have applied the classic three layers of government to understand the full impact of social media: values, organization and policy making. The basic values that form the fabric of government are democracy, effectiveness and constitution. Regarding democracy and effectiveness we have found that they relate quite well with social media. However, constitutional principles like freedom of speech (including the freedom of speech by civil servants), right of privacy and trust worthiness, are seriously at risk. Particularly, Article 7 of the Dutch Constitution is violated as it possible to publish and remain anonymous for many that use social media. In addition, false accusations on the Internet are very hard to remove.
At the organizational level we see conflicting aspects between bureaucracy and social media. We see several paradigm shifts: (a) from top-down hierarchy to bottom-up initiatives, (b) from strict rules and regulations to the absence thereof, (c) from separation between private and public domain to a mix of many domains, (d) from expert knowledge to wisdom of the crowds. These shifts hold important meaning for the national government and by implication will have to result in a critical evaluation of the organizational structure of government. At the level of policy making we see the possibility of controlled utilization. To make this possible it is particularly important to understand the problem for which the policy is a solution. The type of problem determines whether or not social media can be utilized. For instance, we have concluded that social media offer good opportunities for setting the policy agenda. By means of monitoring the government can distil the societal discussions and act accordingly. We have framed this as a “preactive” type of government, a combination of proactive monitoring and reactive agenda setting. Also, the next step in policy making, policy development holds promise however the present initiative (www.internetconsultatie.nl) results in very little response by the public and we strongly recommend an evaluation before further action is developed. At the level of execution and control of policies we have found useful applications, however the question remains how checks and balances are addressed. Overall, we do see a shift to a ‘user generated state’, but it should be clear from the start what the government intends to do with acquired information and suggestions by the public. Finally, this research presents several recommendations and implications. One of the crucial recommendations for the national government if it wishes to utilize the full potential of social media, is the need to abolish the ‘Oekaze-Kok’. This internal rule of no communication between civil servants and chosen officials (and by implication citizens of the state) will seriously undermine the ability to accept and effectively utilize social media.
