Reputation for Government

• Visibility

• Delivery

• Consistency

• Transparency

 

The impact of social media has meant that these factors are under constant scrutiny by an online community who now have platforms to be heard. The speed of communication as a result of social media has meant that governments have less control over public opinion and therefore, their reputations' are at the mercy of the individual. With local and international pressures now able to happen to quicker than ever before; governments have to take proactive steps to participate as soon as possible in online conversations when possibly damaging reputation crises occur.  So, what have governments been doing to engage in the online space?

 

Instead of speaking as one body, governments and poltical parties have more often than not chosen to engage in the online space via their leader/spokesperson.  The motivation behind this include:

 

1. People form their opinion about a political party from its leader. 

2. A candidate needs to promote themseleves and they are starting to realise that speaking in their personal capacity via social      media can have a significant impact on their campiagn.

3. Although a politician represents their political party, they are still be individually accountable for their online presence and not      the political party as a whole. Therefore the political party has outsourced some of the reputational risk. 

 

Below are some statistics on some local and international politicians and their following:

 

Politician                                                             Facebook          Twitter

Barack Obama (U.S. president)                   21 563 288          8 588 100

Jacob Zuma (RSA president)                                  2 857              30 063

Helen Zille (RSA opposition leader)                 196 428              45 282

 

Barack Obama has been a pioneer in using social media to garner support for a presidential campaign. With his Facebook ‘likes’ at 21 563 288 and Twitter followers at 8 588 100, he has continued to use social media as a form of communication giving the American public a channel to converse with the president. He also used social media to squash rumors about his personal life. He did this by initiating an online campaign called Fight the Smears. 

 

He went on to win the presidential elections with many people believing he would deliver on his promises. However, 820 days into his presidency, Obama has a rating approval of 47%. Although an average performance so far, the perceived ability to perform created before he was elected was caused by amongst others things, his ability to reach out to the American youth via social media. 

 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is South Africa’s main opposition party to the African National Congress (ANC). Their leader, Helen Zille has built up a social media presence to counter the ANC’s majority ruling. She has followed in the path of Barack Obama in pioneering social media in a political landscape and has been successful with 196 428 Facebook likes and counting. 

 

The ANC have seen the benefits of being involved in social media and are beginning to build their online presence. Their leader and President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, opened a twitter account in May 2011 and has already gained 30 063 followers.  

 

There is no doubt that social media will bring an extra dimension in a government’s ability to maintain a positive reputation. A government that can successfully maintain their online reputation could curb any unrest within their country as well as strengthen their international relations to allow for a perceived stable government.