Social Media Governance In India

Social media can well be termed as a tool of divulgence and convergence of information. But
such tool is more or less used by individuals and few organizations. The uses of such platform
by the governmental agency to connect to the masses and create synergies between them have
been minimal. However, agencies have started opting for policies to effectively use these
platforms to create scope of engagement with public and to engage all the stakeholders to
make policies citizen centric. In India, practice of using social media platforms by the
governmental agencies have gained pace. In Indian context, Ministry of External Affairs excelled
in using these platforms when its Public Diplomacy (PD) division launched its Twitter account on
July 10, 2010. The launch of such account heralded a new history of government-stakeholder
communications in India. At present, social media sites have accounts of traffic controls, police
departments, municipal corporations and health institutions etc. Keeping in view the need of a
guideline to encourage government institutions to use these platforms as a channel of
communication, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology, Government of India came up with a ‘Framework and Guidelines for
Use of Social Media for Governmental Organisations’ in September, 2011. The question which
becomes imperative to address in regard to such guideline is whether creation of a guideline by
itself is sufficient enough to celebrate or there exists some concerns to be noted in this regard.

I. Social Media Governance: Meaning, Need and Core Values

Governance can be termed to be the process whereby societies and institutions make their
important decisions, determine who they will involve in making those decisions and how they
render account. Typically, a governance process will rest on a governance system or framework
—that is, the agreements, procedures, conventions and policies that establish who has power,
how decisions are taken and communicated, and how accountability is rendered. Social media
governance can be termed to be a procedure wherein to ensure good governance social media
is used by the governmental agencies. The draft Indian framework points out that though at
personal level, the uptake and usage of social media is gaining rapid popularity, use and utility
of such media for official purpose remains ambiguous. Many apprehensions remain including,
but not limited to issues related to authorisation to speak on behalf of department/agency,
technologies and platform to use to communicate, scope of engagement, creating synergies
between different channels of communication, compliance with existing legislations etc.
Therefore, In order to encourage and enable government agencies to make use of this dynamic
medium of interaction, a basic framework and guidelines for use of Social Media by government
agencies in India has been formulated. These guidelines will enable the various agencies to
create and implement their own strategy for the use of social media. The document will help
them to make an informed choice about the objective, platforms, resources, etc. to meet the
requirement of interaction with their varied stakeholders.

The Guidelines have been developed for all e‐Governance projects currently under National e‐
Governance Plan, whether being implemented at Central or State level. In addition, it will be
applicable to all new e‐Governance Projects being developed by any Department or Line
Ministry of Central Government. All other government agencies including Public Sector
Undertakings may also find it useful while conceptualising their own projects. It is expected that
the utility of these guidelines will transcend NeGP and will be used by all departments

It further observes that ‘given its (social media’s) characteristics to potentially give “voice to all”,
immediate outreach and literally 24X7 engagement, social media offers a unique opportunity to
governments to engage with all their stakeholders especially citizens in real time to make policy
making citizen centric. Many governments across the world as well many government agencies
in India are using various social media platforms to reach out to their citizens, businesses and
experts to seek inputs into policy making, get feedback on service delivery, creating community
based programmes etc.

The framework lays down that social media is more interactive, enables one‐to‐one conversation
and demands immediacy in responses than the traditional media. Also, on such platforms the
perception of official and personal roles and boundaries is often blurred. Therefore, while using
social media especially for official purposes, the following values may be kept in mind to
smoothen the interaction:
1. Identity: It requires that one should always identify clearly who he is, what is his role in the
department and publish in the first person. Disclaimer may be used when appropriate.
2. Authority: It suggests not commenting and responding unless authorized to do so especially in
the matters that are sub‐judice, draft legislations or relating to other individuals.
3. Relevance: It advices to comment on issues relevant to one’s area and make relevant and
pertinent comments. This will make conversation productive and help take it to its logical
conclusion.
4. Professionalism: It asks to be polite, be discrete and be respectful to all and do not make
personal comments for or against any individuals or agencies. Also, professional discussions
should not be politicized.
5. Openness: It suggests being open to comments – whether positive or negative. It is not
necessary to respond to each and every comment
6. Compliance: It requires complying with relevant rules and regulations and suggests not
infringing upon IPR, copyright of others.
7. Privacy: It advices not to reveal personal information about other individuals as well as not to
publish one’s own private and personal details unless the person wishes for them to be made
public to be used by others.

It has been noted that as the influence of traditional media sources like television networks and
newspapers will decline, social media will become a critical part of government public relations
and outreach. In an environment of rapidly changing global issues, an increasingly fractionated
media sector, and people more and more defined by unique combinations of niche interests, the
government sorely will need enhanced public relations that will involve bi-directional
multimedia engagement with specific niches of public interest. Since every citizen has the
potential to be a collector, an analyst, a reporter, and a publisher and so does every government
employee, therefore engaging, trusted personalities employed as brand ambassadors over social
media will complement -- not replace -- traditional public affairs and government outreach.