Varia Ranah - Sorotan Ilmiah Perkhidmatan Awam

97 Varia Ranah: Sorotan Ilmiah Perkhidmatan Awam INTRODUCTION The public service plays a vital role in Malaysia’s transition to become a high- income and developed economy. While the country’s public service performs relatively well or is at par on some governance indicators compared to other countries in the region, Malaysia lags behind high-income countries. As its middle class continues to grow, Malaysia is now facing rising expectations and increased demands from the citizens for better quality public service delivery. Social media in government is a game changer. After all, not many things have changed the way the public interacts with government more than social media. On social, people can engage in direct dialogue with politicians, civic officials, and even entire government organizations. It also gives them a chance to engage back. In the age of constant social media commentary, public service is subject to the influence and change of public (netizen) opinion. When public service begins to experience negative perceptions, especially with the instant effect of social media, this will tarnish the public service reputation / negatively impact public service image. Nevertheless, social media still poses many advantages and benefits to the public service as a whole. It can be a very powerful way for public service organizations to interact with the public especially the netizen. LITERATURE REVIEW Because of its popularity and its unique characteristics, social media are becoming an important intermediary for interaction between governments, governments& citizens, and governmental organizations & businesses (Sandoval- Almazan & Gil-Garcia, 2012). Social media use in the public service is considered a technological innovation and transforming agent (Chun & Reyes, 2012), and is believed to have opened-up unprecedented new possibilities (Lee & Kwak, 2012). Social media has the potential to extend government services, increase civic participation, solicit innovative ideas from the masses, and improve decision-making and problem-solving (Bertot,