UK Government to unleash the power of Facebook

The BBC has reported today that the government has announced an arrangement with Facebook as it seeks new ideas on spending cuts, saying that it will be its ‘primary channel’ for communicating with the public on issues like spending cuts.

Users will be able to log on and debate government spending priorities as well as submit and vote for ideas.  There is some speculation amongst the more cynical that this will be used as a way to throw insults around, but it will undoubtedly bring fresh ideas to the table and the government says the ‘most serious ideas will be taken forward by officials in the Treasury and other government departments’.

I think this is a fantastic move by the government to get new technology and public opinion involved in making policy. David Cameron has been wary of using social networking in the past but has somehow managed to see the light and decided to use it in a positive and enterprising manner.

Political use of social networking sites is nothing new – politicians have been exploiting the power of YouTube and other sites for years.  Barack Obama’s campaign took it to a new level, attracting nearly two million supporters on MySpace, about 6.5 million supporters on Facebook, and 1.7 million supporters on Twitter. These figures go a very long way in demonstrating the awesome power of social networking on the internet.

I think the UK government’s decision to use Facebook as a tool to get public opinion is a bold, brave and forward thinking one. For years people have complained that our leaders don’t listen to what we have to say; now Facebook is going to provide a forum for them to do just that, and as the internet becomes available to more and more people, surely this can only be a good thing?

You can see the BBC’s full report at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10563598.stm.

Is this a clever move or a disaster waiting to happen? Let us know what you think!

Tags: facebook, Social Media, social networking

This entry was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 9:55 am and is filed under Online marketing, Social Media, Web. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.