Marketing of Public Services: The face of public services has been particularly transformed through the increased use of social media. From police services to customer inquiries, the social-media revolution has broadened the scope of these services.
❱❱ e-Participation E-participation, sometimes referred to as crowdsourcing, is the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers. E-participation can be a useful tool for government entities to solicit feedback and ideas from citizens and residents about new or existing public policies, services, and local issues. E-participation allows government entities to seek the participation and advice of its citizens to make changes that have a positive and meaningful impact on society. With crowdsourcing, residents in effect become the government’s think tank or advisory group for little or no cost. There are a number of tools and online platforms that can be used for e-participation campaigns including blogs, online social networking platforms, and wikis. Through the use of these tools, governments can host numerous participative activities online and monitor the response and participation rates of the public. This can effectively allow government entities to easily gauge the success of public relations and marketing campaigns.
❱❱ Policies and Guidelines There are a number of policies and guidelines set out by governments to ensure that social media and various websites are being utilized to full capacity. In the U.A.E, the Emirates e-Government is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining the e-Government programme at the federal level in the UAE, which includes policies for social media and e-participation use. They also recommend the design, content style, layout, and various accessibility features so as to make the entire aspect more attractive. The Emirates’ e-Government won the ‘Social Media Initiative of the year” award in 2011, commending the entire operation.
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❱❱ Online Portals and Social Media Abu Dhabi has many government portals which are used to offer information and advice on obtaining numerous government services such as a driver’s license and applying for visas, as well as services related to businesses, residents, and visitors. The primary government portal is the Abu Dhabi E-Government Gate-
Issue 1 - JANUARY 2015