Engaging with the Government Using Social Media Applications or Programs in the UAE - Case Study Example

Focus Group Report Name Professor Course Date Focus Group Report Date: Facilitator: Mohamed Note taker: Abdul-Aziz The interview started by an introduction from Abdul-Aziz who is an undergraduate student at Asai University. The student is majoring on HSS, which is about international affairs. The theme of the interview is digital engagement between the public and government. It very important for the government and the public to engage on each other. This will help the government to know the views of the public on what they like or what they are interested. The government will respond basing on the likes and interests of the public. In addition, the public can communicate any crucial information to the government through the engagement. This will assist the government to aware of what is happening within the rural or urban areas after which it will design a strategy in which to handle various issues to satisfy the public. Currently, the engagement between the government and the public has gone digital (Lee & Kwak 2011, p. 73). This is because of the rapid changing technology in the digital era. The government and the public have been forced to use digital methods of engagement as twitter, facebook, and instagram. Digital methods of engagement have made the engagement between the government and the public easier. This is because everyone does not need to go to an institution, private places or public to get the resources such as the internet used in the engagement. Now days the internet is accessible in the individual mobile phones and the public can engage with the government when travelling, at home or anywhere else. The public will engage the government on various international views, which are of much important in their daily activities. The government will act on the opinions raised by the public on international relations by acting on specific activities that will help the public. This will make the public feel recognized and part of the government as their foreign views and needs are considered. The research will focus on the Middle East specifically United Arab Emirates. This is because it is the most developed country in the Middle East in terms of technology. Middle East is crucial in terms of international relations as it has more vested interests to the western countries. From an interview, we noticed that engaging with the government using the social media applications or programs is easier and convenient. This is because using social media programs or applications, there is no need of going to specific places such that one could engage with the government. An individual can engage with the government in any place at home, driving or any other convenient location. The applications are installed on the mobile phones, which are portable, and one can engage with the government without looking for a computer or any other inconvenient device. To engage with the government without the internet and social media is possible but it is much slower as compared to the digital engagement. The youths in the Emirates do not discuss political issues on the social media because there is no political problem (Lee & Kwak 2011, p. 129). The youths do not see any need to venture into political issues on the social media yet they do not have any crucial problem. The youths prefer to deal with issues of development as employment instead of political issues. The discussion of political issues on the social media has various impacts. When any political issue is posted on the social media, the affected parties will react positively or negatively as per the post. For example in Egypt, the revolution started as a result of the message from the facebook. This led to great destruction and no one is living in Egypt it is undergoing a revolution after destruction. The destruction was because of the social media, which is specifically facebook. The message, which was posted on facebook, affected the Yaafs and it led to losing destruction of property. Discussing politics on the social media has some impacts and it should be handled carefully to avoid the destructions, which might occur as a result of posts on the social media. Currently, there is no political problem in the emirates and that is why there is no political discussion on the social media. When a problem on political issues arises, it will be discussed on the social media. This is because this is the convenient way that the public can engage the government. The public will post the problem and the possibilities of how the problem can be solved. The government will act as per the views from the public. For example, there is a discussion of political issues on the social media in Saudi Arabia. The public in the Saudi Arabia are writing on the facebook, twitter, and putting pictures on instagram. Any positive or negative activity happening in the country, the people are posting them on the social media. If the activity is positive, the people will appreciate the government and if it is negative, they will criticize the government. All these posts are related to the political problems occurring in the country of Saudi Arabia (Lee & Kwak 2011, p. 106). The public is posting the discussion such that the government is touched and it will act by dealing with the problems immediately. When the youths are using the social media, what they are discussing will be effected both in the community, countrywide and outside the country. The impacts of political discussion on the social media do not affect the community or country having the problem alone. This is because the social media is free for anyone to access worldwide. This is because any political discussion posted on the social media can be seen by anyone within the country or outside the country. The residents in the country both the adults and the young ones who can access the social media will see the posts about the problem. Residents will be affected as they might change their normal ways of handling daily activities due to the political discussion posts on the social media. Other people in different countries will see what happen in the country is and they will react in different ways by not visiting the country or limiting the number of visits to the country. This will automatically affect the economic, political, and social development of the country. Many people in the country and outside the country will be affected directly or indirectly. In UAE, the leaders are on social media as they have web pages on facebook, twitter, and instagram. The leaders are updating their web pages frequently and what they are posting will affect the other people in the country or outside the country positively. This is because the residents will post their opinions and ideas on how they want the country to operate. The leaders will get the views of the public and they will as per their interests. For example, the people of UAE posted an opinion on the twitter that they want the flags to be raised the house of every resident (Lee & Kwak 2011, p. 95). The leaders received the opinion by reading it on the social media and they responded to the opinion by taking action of raising flags on top of the houses. On the other hand, the leaders or the government can post their opinion or what they anticipate doing on the social network. The public will respond to the posts and the government will know the point of view of the public and whether to proceed with the opinion or drop it. The leaders can use the social media to request for aids from different countries. From my own opinion, this is not the best way to engage with the government. Engaging with the government on the social media will expose all the secrets of the country to other countries. The other countries will know the problems or weakness in which the country is facing. Other countries can use the exposed information to attack a country or take advantage of the problems. For example, if there are a financial crisis in the country and this information is exposed on the social media, the other will know the problem and they will take advantage. They will give loans but raise the interest, as they are sure that the government does not have other options but to take the offer. Private communication on the social media is the best way to engage with the government. This is because what is being discussed or communicated will not be exposed to other countries or any other party, which is not interested. In Abu Dhabi, there is the installation of applications and programs in buildings, which will enable the government to communicate specifically to certain individuals or departments. For example, when there is a problem in police or security department, the government will log into the private part of the social media and communicate directly to the department. This will be a secret and no will realize that there is a weakness or a problem in the country. Through the private communication, the government will solve the problem peacefully and silently without being exposed to other countries. The government will post certain opinions specifically to the respective departments, which will act as per the opinions. However, people in charge of the departments will be able to post their complaints or opinions direct to the government without exposing them to the public in an open social network pages (Lee & Kwak 2011, p. 172). I have not tried this type of private communication, but I have a friend who did it practically. My friend had a problem in the street and he were trying to think of ways that he could get help out of the problem. My friend treated this type of communication slow and ineffective, but he decided to try it such that the next day he will go to the government offices. He went to a place in the building where private application was installed and drafted the message about the problem he was going through. After drafting, he sends a message directly to the government. After a very short time, he received call from the government asking where he was and the problem he was facing. The government located where he was and assisted him immediately. This made me prove that the private communications using the installed applications are working in UAE and other countries. Due tom the effectiveness of the public communication and engagement different institutions needs to install applications or programs in the smart phones. This will enable them to interact with the public easily and frequently. For example, me I have an application for Starbucks and when I need anything or any assistance from them I can log in to the application and request for the assistance. The applications will be of great importance if used in the right way but if they are misused as in Egypt, it will create a lot of problems and destructions. Many political issues have occurred all over the world through the social media. It has happened one in the United States (Lee & Kwak 2011, p. 220). In the UAE, in the Middle East, it was about to happen and it was realized early by the government and residents. The Muslim brotherhood tried to cheat the residents by their own wrong and bad ideas. The government realized and stopped them as they were spreading bad ideas to the public. The Muslim brotherhood spread the bad ideas through facebook and twitter. Generally, the governments in different countries need to adapt the use of private applications and programs. This will enable the government to serve the public to their bets level making the public be satisfied. These programs are the best to be used when dealing insecurity in the country. The government or the public will be able to report any matter on insecurity secretly to the respective departments who will handle the situation. Reference Lee, G., & Kwak, Y. H. (2011, June). Open government implementation model: a stage model for achieving increased public engagement. In Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Digital Government Research Conference: Digital Government Innovation in Challenging Times (pp. 254-261). ACM. Read More