GOVT’S FAILURE TO EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA

MBABANE – The world is in an epoch where governments’ use of social media as a communication platform is no longer an option but a must.

However, the government of the Kingdom of Eswatini has been found to be one of only six United Nations member states that have not cuddled up to this communication phenomenon.

The era of #hashtags, throwbacks, emojis, WCWs, LOLs and many more has not been embraced by government as it does not have official presence either on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Eswatini is alongside Laos, Mauritania, Nicaragua, North Korea and Turkmenistan in countries that do not have official presence on, for one, the Twitter platform and, secondly, Facebook.

This is according to Twiplomacy - a preeminent global study of world leaders on social media conducted by BCW, which is a top-three and the first truly integrated global communications agency in the world.

951 twitter accounts
BCW’s 2018 Twiplomacy study identified 951 Twitter accounts – 372 personal and 579 institutional accounts – of heads of state and government and foreign ministers of 187 countries.

The study found that 97 per cent of all 193 UN member states had official presence on twitter while 93 per cent were on Facebook – the second most popular network among government leaders and where they have the biggest audience.

Instagram was found to have become the third most popular social network for governments and 81 per cent of all UN member states have set up an account, many of which are sharing daily Instagram stories.
Despite the apparent importance of these platforms to governments around the globe, the Eswatini government does not look even closer to utilising them.

Affirming this was Government Press Secretary Percy Simelane when asked on the reasons for not having an official presence on the platforms and whether government does not see these avenues as important to communicate with citizens and stakeholders. 
He was also asked whether Cabinet ministers were barred from these platforms.

In response, Simelane said: “The ground is not yet level for government to be in the platform in question in terms of policy, legal frameworks, cultural alignment and popular embracing.”
Besides government, as an entity, being absent from social media, all but three Cabinet ministers in the outgoing administration also do not have a presence on the platform.

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