FROM E-GOVERNMENT TO DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP: EXAMINING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS IN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMUNICATION IN BANGLADESH

Social Research

This article examines the transformative power of social media platforms (SMP) in public service communication in Bangladesh. It discusses the move away from the e-government models to a developing model of digital citizenship. This study looks at how government ministries and ultimately civil services use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to disseminate information, crisis management and two-way dialogue with citizens with the help of contemporary theories of networked governance and public value. The study shows that SMPs has reconfigured power dynamics between the government and citizens. Citizens are able to avoid and hold the authority accountable, thus creating early forms of digital new citizenship. Nonetheless, the research reveals that even after 10 years of innovation, propagating the same disease of digital public service delivery through script distortions will not solve the problem and hence appropriate institutional level policy changes are needed. This study adds to the digital governance literature by offering a focused contextual analysis of a rapidly growing digitally South Asian country.

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