Government 2.0

Like me, you were probably told as a child that your two ears and one mouth should be used in that proportion. Web 1.0 ignored the old homily and used the internet as a megaphone to talk, or even shout, at anyone who would listen. Then along came Web 2.0 to the rescue and suddenly organizations, individuals and of course governments had an opportunity to listen as well as, or even more than talk.

Except of course that governments in particular haven’t got to where they are today by listening. At least that’s what the Hansard Society’s report “MPs Online: Connecting with Constituents” found.

The report flags up that while the vast majority of the Westminster village is definitely online (92% of MPs use e-mail and 83% have a personal website), most are using it to inform their constituents rather than engage with them.  Use of Web 2.0 by MPs is nowhere near as high – 23% of MPs use social networking and 11% blog. As you might expect, the use of Web 2.0 approaches increases amongst younger MPs  (38%), and those elected since 2005 (40% versus just 5% of those elected before 1987).

At the leading edge of digital engagement, Tweetminster monitors MPs’ use of Twitter. Tom Watson is clearly Top Tweeter, but then his role as Minister for Transformational Government means that he of all people should be.  Behind him are 37 further MPs (at my last count), some making regular use and others having tweeted only once or twice.

Clearly there are better measures of an MP’s effectiveness than use of social media, but with the number of people (who some might call voters) making use of Web 2.0 in the UK now, and an election beckoning next year, then this might be the time to look to Barack Obama’s campaign for inspiration on the use of social media.

And of course there’s always the House of Lords’ use of social networking. That really would be a good example of peer to peer communication.

Image courtesy of sichunlam