Social networks to replace government: Gartner

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 09:42

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

While the numbers may be down a bit at this year's Gartner Symposium in Sydney, the interest level of some of the presentations remains intact. One of the more quirky presentations postulates that social networking implementations may eventually replace government.

In a presentation at Gartner Symposium in Sydney today, Gartner research vice president Richard Harris discussed the impact of social networking technologies on government organisations. He postulated that at least some government functions will be replaced by social networks.

"The future of government is a very different government and, in some cases, no government at all," says Mr Harris.

Gartner predicts the execution of many government processes in human services, tax and revenue, health care and education will involve individuals who are neither employees nor contractors.

Examples include replacement of some human services functions such as online collection of charitable donations to be directed to people in need combined with online ‘time banks’ through which citizens provide time to help others.

Social computing deployments in government that achieve business benefits will do so in unplanned or unexpected ways, according to Gartner analysts.

According to Mr Harris, government organisations around the world are showing great interest in social computing, but deployment so far is relatively limited.

"The current global financial turmoil bolsters the case for government adoption of social networks as technology-budget cuts make tapping into societal resources, such as voluntary groups, philanthropists, associations and social network groups essential to complement weaker government action in some critical areas," said Mr Harris.

Mr Harris said there are plenty of government-initiated networks and – like any such network – they succeed only when they have a clear and magnetic purpose such as Diplopedia, a wiki created by the US State Department that supports collaboration across intelligence and foreign affairs agencies.

"However, the most promising, and yet, most disruptive, communities are those created outside government. Other examples include Netmums, a community of parents in the UK dealing with child-care issues, and PledgeBank, which allows users to set up pledges and then encourages other people to sign up to them," he said.

According to Mr Harris, the future will see a blurring of the boundaries between the government and non-government sectors facilitated by social networks.

"For example, a case manager in human services is responsible for identifying clients in need through outreach or referral, and conducting a comprehensive social and financial assessment," says Mr Harris.

"In the future, he or she will be part of a more complex socio-ecosystem, including a voluntary sector, online communities and individuals who play a fundamental role through all the different phases. Their role will shift from managing a case to ensuring that community resources are complemented where needed."