The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) has joined a host of brands and organisations by introducing the SA Government application on Mxit.
According to the GCIS, the app will assist the government to dynamically engage young South Africans in a chat-centric way that is relevant to them. It says the online presence has revived political debate by the youth.
In addition, the government believes that Mxit has a highly engaged audience that is willing to partake in polls and surveys that can be used as research to better serve the people.
"A presence on social media is now necessary in an online world where bloggers break stories before some newspapers," says GCIS director Aslam Levy. The government's presence on Mxit will help in clarifying its position and also make sure correct information finds resonance.
The major benefit of having the South African government on social media is that citizens can get credible, authoritative government information directly from a verified source, states Levy. He adds that its presence on social media confirms that the government is open to listening and engaging with the views of the citizens, be it positive or negative.
Praising the advantages of Mxit as a communication tool, Levy says that no other social platform has allowed government to have 'one to many and one to one' way of communicating. He adds that as more South Africans purchase devices that can connect to the Internet, social media will become a cost-effective way to communicate with government.
He notes, however, that the pace of social media is much faster than the internal machinery and other spheres of government. For this reason, government can't respond as fast as its audience poses questions.
In the first week of the SA Government Mxit app being launched, it had 134 000 South African subscribers. Also, the Live chat with the head of government communications had hundreds of people trying to enter the chatroom and interact with a senior government official in real-time, says Levy.
"Our questionnaires receive thousands of responses in a way that we haven't yet seen on Facebook."
According to Levy, the GCIS is currently migrating its Web site, www.gov.za, to a content management system that will allow the Web site to be mobile optimised and have a good user experience on any Internet-capable device. He adds that the first South African government applications for iOS and Android are also being planned.
In conclusion, Levy reports that GCIS is finalising the national communication framework for the next five years and part of the strategy is to better utilise digital technologies.
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