President Barack Obama was the first politician to make full use of social media as part of his electoral campaign, and subsequently to keep in touch with his supporters by conducting question-and-answer sessions live on YouTube, and even tweeting live (or at least having someone tweet on his behalf) during his recent State of the Union address.
Now, our own President Zuma is taking a leaf out of Obama’s book and also getting in on the social action. Far from the #JujuFriday controversy of a few months ago, this time the Office of the Presidency is calling for suggestions and comments in the run-up to this year’s State of the Nation address – and doing so by tweetingabout it with the hashtag, #SONA2011. The Office says it has an active following on both Twitter and Facebook and feels this represents a considerable part of the constituency, which is able to get involved – who knew?!
Of course, it’s important for both Obama and Zuma to not just have a presence online, but also to live up to the promises they make – after all, we know how quickly a reputation can be tarnished with the viral nature of social media. Still, novel to see our won government embracing the opportunity to connect with citizens, rather than trying to ‘closer’ social media altogether! Much more productive, I’d say…
Filed under: online Tagged: | Barack Obama, social media, State of the Nation, State of the Union, Twitter, Zuma
