Dubai: The power of social media and its ability to be a direct channel between government and citizens when it comes to proposing ideas to improve government services was the topic of discussion at the GCC Government Social Media Summit on Wednesday.
The discussion, ‘Innovation in Citizen Engagement through Social Media: The UAE Brainstorming Session’, invited four panellists to discuss the outcomes and benefits of the UAE Brainstorming Session, the first nation-wide technology-led citizen engagement initiative, which took place in 2013 and invited citizens and residents of the UAE to tweet their ideas and suggestions.
The high level of participation by social media users in the campaign, which generated over 82,000 innovative ideas and proposals, was highlighted by Dr Saeed K. Al Daheri, an independent researcher in the UAE, who believes that through the use of social media, people have become an important part of the urban development in the country.
“People are not only recipients but are active partners. They are co-producers, co-creators and an essential part of the country’s development. Inviting people to tweet their ideas and suggestions, which can then be developed and implemented to improve public services, has made people feel more responsible and has made them feel that they are part of the government decision-making process,” said Al Daheri.
Earlier in 2013, thousands of people were found tweeting their ideas using a designated hashtag in Arabic and English suggesting and proposing ideas that could improve services in the health care and education sectors.
Mohammad Al Marzouqi, a columnist at Emarat Al Youm, emphasised how the launching of the hashtag trend on Twitter was a smart move which enabled the public “in becoming real partners in generating ideas”.
“There is a saying that two brains are better than one, and through this campaign there were thousands of brains working all together to make a difference. Thousands of brilliant ideas were generated and retweeted. The best ones were approved and implemented after being presented to the Cabinet in a government retreat,” said Al Marzouqi.
Later in the discussion, a columnist, radio presenter and a doctor, who was one of the panellists, spoke about his unique experience as a user who decided to take part in the ‘UAE Brainstorming Session’ by tweeting his idea using only 28 characters.
“The idea I proposed was related to the medical sector and when I tweeted the idea, I did not expect that the 28 characters I had written would be retweeted by other doctors and would later become a government decision within a few days,” said Omar Al Hammadi.
Al Hammadi elaborated about the idea he had presented and how different doctors were quickly involved and began retweeting it. He said that one of the things he thought was important was having a UAE Medical Board to develop and upgrade the health sector in the UAE.
“Having a medical board that could train doctors indicates a very advanced health-care system. The UAE Brainstorming Session changed the mechanisms of communication and we all hope it happens again and starts involving other sectors too.”
