Social Media and Public Sector Policy Dilemmas

Toby Fyfe and Paul Crookall wrote a report earlier this year entitled Social Media and Public Sector Policy Dilemmas. It was written for the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC), an organization whose role is to promote excellence in public service.

The report is based on consultations with stakeholders from across Canada and discusses many of the impediments to the use and spread of social media (blogs, wikis, Facebook-style tools) in the public/government sector:

This research paper examines the thoughts and attitudes of public servants from three levels of
government, academics, consultants, and members of think tanks on the legislative, policy and operational implications that arise when new social media tools are used in public sector organizations.

Questions were asked regarding the efficacy of existing policy and legislative frameworks in areas such as information management, privacy, security and official languages. What is adequate when it comes to government use of social media tools such as wikis, blogs, social networking sites, and Twitter? Are policy objectives that were formulated forty years ago still relevant? How can organizations and public servants mitigate risk?

Questions were also asked about the role of social media in addressing the challenges of government modernization and the transformation of hierarchical organizational cultures to ones that are collaborative
and open.

In the digital age information is used by citizens and companies as a resource that can provide economic and social value, increasing a country’s innovative capacity and competitiveness. The discussions centred on the implications of new social media for the management of information by governments.

This report is part of a larger project designed to support a community of practice in this important area that will be sharing information, devising shared solutions and continuing a collaborative exploration of public sector policy, legislative, and governance issues in the areas of privacy, information management, official languages and security. Phase 1 included five roundtable discussions held in Albany, NY, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton and Victoria. It also included the exploration, through three case studies, of how similar issues are being tackled in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This outcome report summarizes the findings, provides an “as-is report” of the roundtable discussions, and concludes with the case studies.