We all know that communication is a critical tool in any government, especially in today's world, where everything changes daily in all aspects of life. The use of social media platforms by modern governments has become a hot topic in their interactions with their people. Twitter, one of the social media outlets used by governments for communication, has evolved rapidly in recent decades. As opposed to other social media sites, most people in Gulf countries consider Twitter communications to be more official (Kim et al., 2013).
The use of Twitter in government has improved access to information over time. This social media site has had a significant positive effect on the relationship between the government and its people. Citizens in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) can get fast information about what the government has communicated through access to information. Isn't it true that everyone wants quick and easy access to news produced by their government? The same thing happens when people use Twitter because once information is posted; it quickly trends and is easy to spot because it encourages citizens and government to communicate.
Since Twitter actively engages and includes people in government, its ease of use and availability has become important to citizens. By offering more opportunities to people, this interaction with citizens strengthens the partnership between governments and citizens. This is where the government receives both positive and negative responses from its people as it communicates such news. Since people have made suggestions, this reaction serves as input to the government, allowing it to correct and strengthen where appropriate. This improves the government-citizen relationship by allowing people to participate in the government.
Other core values that allow people to build fast confidence in the government include transparency and accountability, and Twitter has played a key role in ensuring that this is accomplished. Twitter has been an excellent social media site distinguished by user-generated content and many-to-many interactions, in comparison to conventional media such as print, radio, and television. In recent years, Twitter has been widely regarded as an effective and convenient platform for fostering openness and interactions, as well as for encouraging information sharing, and it has also seen an increasing trend and paradigmatic change in government usage for better citizen engagement.
For example, a study by (Kim et al., 2013) found that tweets from a government officer played a mediation role in increasing citizens' perceptions of legitimacy in the governmental Twitter feed by collecting questionnaire samples from Korean citizens who interacted with a central government department via Twitter. The study found that social media, such as Twitter, can be used as a powerful communication medium to build confidence in government agencies and as a vital path to supplement the functions of web-based e-government. Also, Twitter provides interactive and extensive features for the general public to understand e-government.
Social medial networks such as Twitter can be used as a key to open governance in a country. The use of social media by a government may be justified by their interactive and participative existence. Studies that have shown the importance of social media in securing government confidence have shown that governments should understand and correctly use social media, in which case, public trust in the government can increase. Citizen confidence in government agencies can be both a factor promoting citizen involvement in the government agency's social media and an outcome arising from social media (Hong, 2013).
Social movements are very common on Twitter and their impacts are usually being felt. David Abele (1966), a sociologist, tackles this issue by creating definitions that classify social movements based on what they want to do and how much change they want. Reform movements aim to alter a particular aspect of the social system. Anti-nuclear organizations, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Dreamers immigration reform movement, and the Human Rights Campaign's support for Marriage Equality are only a few examples. Revolutionary movements aim to transform society from the ground up. These social movements on Twitter have sparked a discussion about how the government can interact with such communities in society and how their concerns should be answered quickly.
Citizens' positive attitudes toward the government's transparency, responsibility, efficiency, and effectiveness result in structure assurance from the perspective of government trust. The provision of government services through social media channels such as Twitter helps to build a positive image for the government (Robert Zepic,2013). Citizens may view governments as transparent if they see news, data, policies, and government visions posted on social media; furthermore, searchable databases in a government's social media also make information searches easier for citizens. Government agencies that perform poorly contribute to negative public perceptions of governments.
Similarly, several scientific studies in the literature use Twitter to de-bureaucratize government communications, explore its function in developing social confidence and its impact on government reliability, and forecast election outcomes, among other things. The quality of tweets, demographic details about Twitter accounts, and followers of Twitter accounts are among the unique Twitter characteristics exploited in these studies.
Saudi Arabia currently has the fastest-growing Twitter population of all Arab Gulf countries. Also, aspects of the existing government, which is known for its tight control over public debate and knowledge flow, are opening doors to a modern public discourse, thanks in large part to the power of social media. In 2011, a new term—the Arab Spring—began to gain traction around the world. Photos of mass demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt started to appear on the international news. The citizens were able to bring down governments they claimed were oppressive due to the scale and persistence of the protests, which were broadcast around the world.
The Arab Spring's popularity was attributed to the use of social media, according to the news. While social media was a powerful tool for organizing demonstrations and sending instant updates on events to followers, the protest leaders clarified that it was the social and economic circumstances that triggered such unrest that people were willing to walk to the streets and protest. Just a few countries saw uprisings that could be called Arab Spring, but there was a different kind of revolution going on.
The Arab Spring prompted a thorough examination of the role of social media in shaping social change. While the political and social changes seen in the Arab world were unprecedented, they were not immediate, but rather had been building for many years. The only thing that was needed was a catalyst, an occurrence that would prompt citizens to take to the streets, since all of the requisite conditions for these demonstrations were already present in the general population, such as social stratification, corruption and abuse of power, a lack of democracy, and continuing violations of basic civil rights and government privileges, and many others. With the advancement of communication technologies, regimes were no longer able to regulate information flows, and social media became the catalyst, or "trigger," that enabled large groups of people to organize and have their voices heard around the world.
The Arab governments' desire to maintain national unity and the centralized form of government is cited as one of the reasons for this model's popularity in Saudi Arabia. Second, they use broadcast media as a political and propaganda weapon, and third, they want to keep those tools out of the hands of hostile forces. Other new media faces a problem as compared to Twitter in that it is very sluggish due to all of the paperwork involved, while social media can report news events almost instantly. Twitter's ability to allow users to send messages while watching events on their smartphones is changing the social and political fabric of societies like Saudi Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia, Twitter has reawakened new freedoms of speech, breaking the "stranglehold of state-sponsored media and knowledge monopolies in those countries," as seen in Tunisia and Egypt. Indeed, the Arab world has seen the emergence of independent, vibrant social media and increasingly growing citizen participation on the Internet, from Morocco to Bahrain. Twitter has the power to not only educate, but also mobilize, entertain, build communities, increase accountability, and keep governments accountable, all of which improve government-citizen relations.
In Saudi Arabia, Twitter has reawakened new freedoms of speech, breaking the "stranglehold of state-sponsored media and communication monopolies in those countries," as Tunisia and Egypt have seen. Indeed, the Arab world has seen the emergence of vibrant independent social media and increasingly growing citizen participation on the Internet, from Morocco to Bahrain. Twitter has the power to mobilize, entertain, build communities, increase accountability, and keep governments accountable while strengthening government-citizen relations.
In recent years, effective use of Twitter has aided Gulf governments in better understanding, responding to, and attracting the attention of target audiences. As a result of its use, the government can enhance public participation, knowledge sharing, and governance. It allows for true two-way communication between individuals. The following are some of the advantages of using Twitter: First, it has increased government accessibility to audiences, resulting in improved government communication. The opportunity to serve a larger audience with less money means governments can be more effective and productive in their interactions with people, partners, and stakeholders. Finally, governments have seen an increase in the pace of public feedback and input, as well as the ability to reach specific audiences on specific issues, and a reduction in government reliance on traditional media.
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