Social Media and Networks have received a lot of attention in the last decade. Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a mechanism for individuals to come together based on a variety of factors such as existing friendships, common interests, or work. People have discovered how the use of social networks can facilitate communication and interaction. As a result, new ways of communication procedures have been established in society. Social Media increase the opportunities for individual users to share digitally created content and ideas. YouTube, Blogs, and Flickr are platforms that are easy to use and provide interfaces for other Social Media and Networks. Consequently, digital resources become interconnected by users who view, provide and share web content; related legal issues are still part of an ongoing discussion.

Governments have also discovered the potential for these social media sites to aid in government information sharing and outreach. New means of communication can facilitate increased participation and collaboration within society. Social Media unite several communication channels and give citizens opportunities to provide feedback for officers and representatives. Guidelines for the use of Social Media and Social Networks are relatively new in governmental agencies and what might be suitable for one agency might not be adequate for another one. Many citizens already appreciate the comfort of internet communication and demand for easy and fast web services is growing. At the same time, issues surrounding privacy, information leakage, blurred boundaries, and online addiction must be addressed when discussing social networks and media. This minitrack is open to papers that cover all aspects of social networking, especially as they relate to electronic government.

This minitrack is open to papers that cover all aspects of social networking, especially as they relate to electronic government.

Topics and research areas include, but are not limited to:

1. •Case studies of the use of social networks by any level of government
   

2. •Usage of social networks and media for participation and collaboration
   

3. •Implementation challenges
   

4. •Maintaining privacy in social networks
   

5. •Patterns and trends in social networking
   

6. •Social networks and media as a means to conduct information sharing
   

7. •Leakage of organizational information through social networks
   

8. •Trust and information credibility in social networks
   

9. •Social Networks and ‘information overload’
   

10. •Mobile social networking
    

11. •Guidelines and policies for social media and networks
    

12. •Legal concerns when providing and sharing content via social media
    

13. •Web identities of civil servants
    

14. •Potentials of social media and networks
    

More co-chair information

Peter Parycek, PhD, MSc, is Head of the Center for E-Government at the Danube University Krems and Chairman of the ministerial working groups “E-Democracy & E-participation” and “E-Government Training” at the Austrian Federal Chancellery. As a lawyer and graduate of the Master's program Telematics, his work is at the intersection of legal policy, social and technological developments. His research and project priorities include eGovernance, eDemocracy and eGovernment.

Jay P. Kesan, PhD, is Professor & Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Faculty Scholar and Director of the Program in Intellectual Property & Technology Law at the University of Illinois.  His academic interests and writings are in the areas of digital government, cyberlaw, patent law, entrepreneurship, and law and technology.  He is Group Leader of the Business, Economics & Law of Genomic Biology (BioBEL) research theme at the Institute of Genomic Biology.  He is a registered patent attorney and received his J.D. summa cum laude from Georgetown University.  He also has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and worked for several years as a research scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York.  For a more complete bio, please see http://www.jaykesan.com

Suha AlAwadhi, PhD, is an assistant professor, Department of Library and Information Science in College of Social Sciences at Kuwait University in Kuwait. She is a member of DGSNA and a member of IFIP E-government Conference (EGOV) 2011. Dr. AlAwadhi has participated in many conferences such as HICSS, EGOV, IFLA. Her research areas of interest include e-government, knowledge management, social inclusion, knowledge sharing and social networking.