Social media has become a crucial part of how we interact with our friends, community and even run our cities. Governments are starting to take serious notice and incorporate social media into their own day-to-day actions.

Governments may not be early adopters but the proliferation of social in national media has ramped up its importance for governments around the world. While this initial stance kept politicians on the defensive, enough time has passed that individual politicians and even entire governments are starting to use social media to connect with their communities in new, open ways.

We’ve chosen a few examples to illustrate some of the many ways government is embracing social media. Have a read through some of these initiatives and let us know in the comments how your own government or political representative is putting social media to good use. The list is neither exhaustive nor does it try to summarize the entirety of a government’s social outreach. It is instead meant to start a conversation.

America Gets Social

Social media has a strange role in America as both kingmaker and career wrecker. For every social media success story like President Barack Obama’s 2008 grassroots campaign there is another of a career-crippling gaffe, like Weinergate, when New York Rep. Anthony Weiner accidentally tweeted a picture of his crotch.

Social media, and particularly Twitter, have become a type of soapbox in America, on which many politicians are able to speak directly to their constituents. “I know the overall importance of reaching out through the social media, because I have 31 grandchildren and they are on all of these things,” said U.S. Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. “This is mostly a young person’s game and I’m an old person, but I’m young at heart … the only advice I’d give is ‘get involved’ and then use it in the right way.”

In fact, Republicans have been encouraging their members to get on social media with a friendly NCAA-style knock-out contest called the New Media Challenge, run by the House Republican Conference. Republicans are also using social media to reach out through initiatives like Youcut, a crowdsourced platform where the public can debate and vote on how to lower the national debt. “If you ignore [social media] and you just keep doing things the way you did when I first came to congress, you do so at your own peril,” McKeon said.

Of course the White House itself has taken to social media to help push some of its initiatives. Obama recently held a Twitter town hall where he received and answered questions through Twitter and pledged to start tweeting from his own official account. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook have also been used in presidential debates and forums. The White House has even set up several verified Twitter accounts for state entities such as the secret service (@SecretService), the Open Government Initiative (@OpenGov), a Spanish White House account (@lacasablanca) and an official account for White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (@presssec). Social media has become a place where politicians large and small can register their support in a public way, for example, when Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., called for the release of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei from police custody.

Social media has also been used in national campaigns such as ChooseMyPlate.gov, for healthier eating, Serve.gov, for organizing and coordinating national volunteer efforts and for the White House blog.

Canada Crowdsources

America’s friendly neighbor to the North is also taking advantage of social media. Most Canadian politicians have a social presence, which they or their teams manage. Some governmental departments are even taking steps to integrate social media into actually government operations.

Glen Murray is the Minister of Research and Innovation for the province of Ontario. Following a social innovation summit, Murray wanted to find a way to bring the public into the discussion. Murray and two other ministries created a crowdsourced wiki to help create an official policy paper on what the government’s approach to social innovation should be. Like Wikipedia, any user can add articles or edit submissions in a collaborative effort to create official policy.

“We are adjusting and trying to get ahead of the curve of a generation of social media users who more and more see social media as a way of affecting social change,” said a spokesperson for Murray’s office. “People are engaging with social policy in a way that they haven’t before and government will either adjust or be adjusted.”

Social media played a huge role in the 2011 federal election, though it exposed that social media alone can still not win an election. Michael Ignatieff, the liberal party leader, was widely thought to own the social space but ultimately lost by a significant margin. “It was incredibly exhilarating and stressful and energizing and overwhelming,” said a member of Ignatieff’s social media team. “Every instant of every day we were completely absorbed, in addition to all the other aspects of campaigning that haven’t changed, we were involved with what people were saying in the Twitterverse.”

Twitter became another branch of the media arm which required monitoring and attention. Questions that appeared on social sites needed to be treated the same as traditional media calls, the aide said.

“Political figures can’t work without engaging their constituents using social media,” the aide said. “It’s an expectation as much as it’s an opportunity. It’s changing the onus from working for people to working with people.”

Russia Tries a Little Openness

Of course, North America isn’t the only place where social media is making its way into the government. After Facebook’s January 2010 launch in Russia, the number of users in the country grew by 376%, most of which are under 27 years of age. There is a young generation of socially active Russians asking their government to follow suit. A ComScore global study last summer showed Russia had the most engaged social networking audience in the world.

A year ago, Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s then and current president, paid a visit to Twitter’s offices, created an account and sent out his first official tweet. He is now a prolific user with more than half a million followers across four verified accounts.

His tweets are as much a way of sharing updates on the government as they are about humanizing the president, and the trend is being seen government wide, according to Russia Beyond the Headlines:

“Opinion polls and electronic communications, which until recently were recipient-specific, are gradually becoming discussion forums where anyone can speak out. It has never been easier for people in Russia to observe government at work and to actively participate in discussions with officials through social networks and blogs.”

Since last fall, Russians have been able to participate in meetings of the Presidential Commission for Modernization and Technological Development of Russia’s Economy through online tools. When discussions came up around a new law on police, the government created a forum, called i-Russia.ru, where people can post comments and connect their social networks. The commission is also the first government body in Russia to get its own mobile app.

Censorship and Control

Social media isn’t always sunshine and roses. Questions of censorship come up even in governments where a free press and public media are encouraged. In France, for example, the government banned the use of the words “Twitter” and “Facebook” on broadcast news saying that it constituted unsolicited advertising.

In the U.K., a government known for its support of personal privacy, social media has presented a challenge in protecting and controlling individual privacy rights. A recent ad campaign warned British soldiers about how they use social media lest that information also end up in enemy hands.

“Control works both ways,” said Adam Clark Estes, a writer at The Atlantic and former social media editor at the Huffington Post. “The government can control what people are doing [on] Twitter, but they can’t get rid of the services because even in China, where there are restrictions on [social media], they’re finding a way to get around the firewall.” Estes said governments are using social media as a kind of customary service tool to handle negative sentiment while at the same time humanizing the face of government. The goal is to give the illusion that social media is making the government more open, Estes said, while the government still retains control over their message.

“The kind of idea behind it, that you want to reach people and convince them of your opinion is really no different than the way governments have always used [the media],” said Weldon Kennedy, Change.org’s director of organizing. For Kennedy, governments are using social media the same way they use more traditional outlets like the print press and broadcast. More open communities have more open social policies, whereas more restrictive or totalitarian communities place tighter reigns on social media. “You don’t see dictators get on Facebook,” Kennedy said. “[Former Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak wasn’t on Facebook, but the military council that’s been in charge ever since was.”

Kennedy was quick to point out that social media is still a bit of a luxury in parts of the Middle East and Africa. Social media there is often less a way to lobby the government as it is to network and organize protests.

Conclusion

Governments and social media have reached a tentative partnership. While the Internet is no longer a “Wild West,” people in power are still trying to figure out how best to approach online communities and their social tools. There may not be any clear answers, but social is certainly not going to go away.

There are nearly infinite ways that governments are using social media. Help us add to the conversation by sharing your own insights in the comments below. How have you seen governments, large and small, use social media? What could be done better?

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