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each and every individual. Such an interaction also enables the marginalised to participate in
discussions and present their point of view, thereby improving the political position of
marginalized or vulnerable groups. It is specifically useful when seeking feedback on services
rendered.

· Managing Perceptions: One of the big challenges for government is to avoid
propagation of unverified facts and frivolous misleading rumours with respect to
government policies. Leveraging these platforms can help to counter such perceptions and
present the facts to enable informed opinion making.

4.3 Types of Social Media

Kaplan and Haenlein in 2010 classified social media into six different types: collaborative
projects, blogs and microblogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game

worlds, and virtual social worlds. A brief description of some of the most common types of
social media is given below:

Platform Type Description

Social
Social Networking is an online service that enables its users to create
Networking
virtual networks with likeminded people akin to social networks in real
life. It often offers the facilities such as chat, instant messaging, photo

sharing, updates, etc. Currently, social networking sites are the most
prominent version of social media. FaceBook with 800 million users is one
of the most well known social networking site.
Blogs Blogs are descriptive content pages created and maintained by individual
users and may contain text, photos and links to other web sites. The main
interactive feature of Blogs is the ability of readers to leave comments and
the comment trail can be followed.

MicroBlogs MicroBlogs are similar to Blogs with a typical restriction of 140 characters
or less, which allows users to write and share content. Twitter is the most
well known microblogging site.

Vlogs and VideoBlogs or Vlogs are blogging sites that mainly use video as the main
Video Sharing form of content supported by text. YouTube is the largest video sharing

sites site.

Wikis A Wiki is a collaborative website that allows multiple users to create and
update pages on particular or interlinked subjects. While single page is
referred to as “wiki page” the entire related content on that topic is called

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