What good is Facebook?

It depends upon who you talk to.

The government of the Province of Ontario, Canada recently announced that it was banning use of Facebook for government employees and elected officials. Why? The government simply does not believe that the site adds value.

Sure, that means no updating your profile during work hours. But it also appears to mean that no elected officials can conduct voter outreach on Facebook – one of the fastest growing online communities.

In an article published this morning, the BBC puzzles over the ban, suggesting that the decision may, in fact, isolate government from the very people it serves:

Is there really no benefit to have government policy makers access and participate in the hundreds of groups discussing Ontario health care issues? Would it be so bad for elected officials to actually engage with their constituents in a social network environment?

The attempts to block Facebook or punish users for stating their opinions fails to appreciate that social network sites are simply the internet generation’s equivalent of the town hall, the school cafeteria, or the workplace water cooler - the place where people come together to exchange both ideas and idle gossip.

Online Advertising: Too Risky?

While the government in Ontario has closed the doors to Facebook outreach for the near future, Times Online reports that the UK Government has decided not to purchase advertising on sites that contain user-generated content – including Facebook.

Facebook’s value isn’t being questioned. Rather, the decision was made because the Central Office of Information, which controls the Government’s advertising budget, is worried about “Government messages appearing alongside offensive or otherwise unsuitable material,” like negative comments, criminal activity, and office gossip.

Instead of closing the door permanently on all sites, Jamie Galloway, the COI director of digital media, suggests the approach will be measured and sites will be reviewed:

COI is not considering removing all social media activity indefinitely. COI are regularly reviewing the use of social media in government communications campaigns, to ensure they are effectively reaching target audiences.

These two events lead us to a set of questions about the intersection between government outreach and user-generated content:

• How can governments conduct social networking outreach in a way that reaches voters and conforms to its own values?
• Are our values about “good” and “bad” online content are outdated when it comes to determining which sites provide an appropriate environment for government outreach and which do not?
• Does it really detract from an elected official’s message if a girl in a bikini leaves a comment on that official’s Facebook profile?
• Will an ad for a government organization be less effective because it happens to appear on a social networking page on which users post heated and sometimes profane opinions about political matters?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Facebook, International, Online Advertising, e-Gov. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.