Page 3 - Approved Social Media Framework and Guidelines

Executive Summary

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) including internet and mobile based
communications are increasingly becoming pervasive and integral to day-to-day functioning
of our lives- whether personal or official. ICTs offer an unprecedented opportunity of
connecting to each and every individual and design the communication structure
accordingly to each person. Such a structure can be defined and re-defined by both initiator
and receiver of communication. Such a medium of communication is referred to as Social
Media and it is transforming the way in which people connect with each other and the
manner in which information is shared and distributed.

While at a personal level, the uptake and usage of such media is gaining rapid popularity,
use and utility of such media for official purpose remain ambiguous. Many apprehensions
remain including, but not limited to issues related to authorisation to speak on behalf of
department/agency, technologies and platform to be used for communication, scope of
engagement, creating synergies between different channels of communication, compliance
with existing legislations etc.

In order to encourage and enable government agencies to make use of this dynamic
medium of interaction, a Framework and Guidelines for use of Social Media by government
agencies in India has been formulated. These guidelines will enable the various agencies to
create and implement their own strategy for the use of social media. The document will

help them to make an informed choice about the objective, platforms, resources, etc. to
meet the requirement of interaction with their varied stakeholders.

The guidelines provide an in depth review of types of social media, their characteristics and
challenges in their uses. In order to assist the departments to undertake such an
engagement, the document provides for a framework and detailed guidelines governing
each element of the framework. Briefly, the elements of the framework and associated

guidelines are given below:

The framework comprises of the following 6 elements:

· Objective: Why an agency needs to use social media

· Platform: Which platform/s to use for interaction

· Governance: What are rules of engagement

· Communication Strategy: How to interact

· Pilot: How to create and sustain a community

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