Communication On Top: Saudi Ministers in Social Media Presentation: Sultan Al Bazie, Saudi Arabia

I have been representing Russia on Communication On Top International forum in   Political communications section  with the “Why in Russia and the BRIC countries the e-government could stimulate economic development” report. Here is the presentation I’d like to share with you.

Today I would like to bring to your attention one of the best (in my opinion) presentations, it was presented by Sultan Al Baziу of Saudi Arabia.

I also got the opportunity to ask him some questions about e-government and e-officials in his country.

1. Does e-officials guide exist in Saudi Arabia? I mean: what to post, where to post and how?

Sultan Al Bazie: No, the cases I mentioned in my presentation were of personal initiative of the said ministers, and not –yet- a government policy.

2. What do you think about effectiveness of online communications in arabian part of the world?

Sultan Al Bazie: I believe it is very effective, as the audience we should target are young, educated and are online.

3. What risks does any official fight when he use social media tools?

Sultan Al Bazie: The usual way of thinking …! If you are not ready to think twitter and facebook you are lost.

4. Do you know any big fails of Arabian e-officials in Social media?

Sultan Al Bazie: So far nothing that I know of, but I expect some if they were forced to be there.

5. How e-official blogs change the country?

Sultan Al Bazie: Nothing significant yet, most of the Saudi ministers failed to oblige to the King’s direct orders to assign spokespersons to talk to the media, let alone blogging or being active in social media, the only successful example was coming from the ministry of interior which succeeded in gaining public support against terrorism.

6. Why mostly all of them use Facebook?

SultanAl Bazie: Maybe because it is popular and user friendly.

7. What can e-official do with negative comments from the audience?

Sultan Al Bazie: They are having hard time I believe, but they are doing it bravely.

Alena Popova