Social media governments: Iceland, Nigeria, Rwanda & SA

An increasingly crucial part of our daily lives, social media is changing the way we interact, work and live. As a truly people-oriented medium, it is even altering our concept of society and democracy. Governments, from Iceland to Nigeria, are coming up with innovative solutions for meeting the needs of their citizens.

By Michelle Atagana

15 Jun 2011

A fair amount of discussion at a recent World Economic Forum annual meeting held in Davos focused on the future of governance: "Governments today are operating in an environment where citizens' expectations are communicated through digital means to global audiences in a matter of minutes, with incredible ramifications, as evidenced by the revolutions across the Middle East," Borge Brende, the fund's managing director, writes in a report titled The Future of Government.

Smart governments know they need to connect with their citizens on a grassroots level and eGovernance is becoming a buzz word in many cabinet meetings. This changing shape of democracy is best demonstrated in three inspiring case studies:

Crowdsourcing the constitution

Iceland is currently crowdsourcing its new constitution. When your banks and government are free falling, it's time to ask the people what they want.

Read the full article on www.memeburn.com.

About the author

Michelle Atagana is a staff reporter at [[www.memeburn.com]].