Government ropes in Facebook as crowdsourcing cuts channel
In its latest attempt at outreach to get the public on-board for the financial crisis, government has set up a Facebook page as another medium to invite crowdsourcing suggestions for its planned programme of cuts.
The move echoes a direct 'Spending Challenge' website set up last week, with the new page said to be aimed at the social media site's 23 million UK users.
The government has gone so far as to suggest its Facebook presence will be its primary channel for communicating with the public about spending cuts.
Users can join and submit ideas, comment on suggestions and vote for or against them on the Spending Challenge Channel, itself an extension of the Democracy UK pages it set up during the run-up to the general election.
The government says that as with its other sites, such as its Your Freedom site for public suggestions on laws and business regulations it wants repealed, the "most serious” ideas will be taken forward by officials in the Treasury and other government departments.
Source: Public Technology