The application of WEB 2.0 technologies by the South African Government.

Abstract

Various governments, for example those of the United States of America, Canada, Finland and France are already making use of Web 2.0 technology (social websites such as blogs, wikis, Twitter, Facebook and “second life”’) to interact and communicate with citizens. The aim of this article is to explore the use of Web 2.0 technology by South African government institutions. Through a review of scholarly literature and internet sources a general overview of the development of information technology is given, examples of selected governments that are already making use of Web 2.0 technology are assessed, and the current use of information technology in South Africa is reviewed. This article has shown Web 2.0 to be an application with the potential to change the way citizens interact with government, governments provide information to citizens and include citizens in government processes and debates.