Government officials 'need to get online and involved with social media'

11:43 21st June 2011

Government officials should be given social networking training so as to enable them to 'reach out to online citizens', it has been argued.

With growing numbers of people around the world going online, public sector workers have been urged to follow suit and to make use of popular social media tools to engage individuals.

In particular, Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore's minister for information communications, has advised his peers around the world that governments can no longer afford to ignore cyberspace, ZDNet has reported.

Instead, they need to be proactive and actively reach out to their citizens through tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Seventh Annual Ministerial Forum on ICT in Singapore, Mr Yaacob explained: "With the prevalence of social media networks as well as the [evolution] of mobile and new platforms, the increasing volume of online engagements is a trend that we cannot ignore."

He added that governments also need to take the lead in issues such as cybersecurity and the provision of high-speed broadband access.

This comes days after the east Asian telecoms firm SingTel announced plans to offer extra-fast mobile broadband in the city-state.

Posted by Derek Oldman

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