Fang Wang and Ying Wang
in 2008, " the government should spend the money collected from taxpayers in helping those people who meet difficulties in reality rather than pay for top ranking in Baidu search engine.”( Guo, 2008)
Government website
Government
Media
Business card
Information openness
Services
Interaction
Portals
Department websites
Public facility
Developmental stage
Essence
Functions
Type
Characteristics
Necessity of promotion
Promotion strategies
Promotion effects
Reasons for having not promoted
Promotion
Traditional media
SEO
Commercial promotion
Page views Processed
Superiors’ attitue
Lack of funds
Public expenditure
User type
User investi gation
Intended users
User
Actual users
Potential users
Non-intended users
User needs
Awareness
Using habits
Satisfaction
Figure 1: Concept map depicting the mechanism of government websiteb
" Study of the government website promotion should begin with the study of government propaganda ", an interviewee suggested. Most of the interviewees think that the services delivered via government websites are public and authoritative. These characteristics should be reflected in promotion strategies.“ Making profits by hanging ads” like business websites should be prohibited. Some interviewees commented,“ Formal channels should be firstly chose for government website promotion”;“ Information about government websites could be issued where potential users might appear. Promotion strategies such as catalogue classification, knowledge promotion like Wiki‐encyclopedia, links exchange, news marketing and appropriate external marketing could be adopted."
Some government employees think that a government website is a medium that publishes information that the government wants to inform its citizens or a business card that represents a city. A government employee commented, " In the internet age, a government portal is a‘ business card’ of the region that the government administrates.... It is shortsighted to treat it with formalism." These views disclose the essence of government websites from different perspectives and imply that government websites need to be known by more people.
3.1.2 Functions of government websites
Modern governments take society management and public service as their main responsibilities, including improving region image, attracting investors and tourists, developing economy and maintaining social stability, etc. Websites are the online extensions of government entities. Accenture( 2008) stressed the importance of public values that guide government behavior and action in planning and delivering public services. Government should remember that citizens can only acquire value through capturing experience of using public services( Grimsley, Meehan & Gupta, 2006). At present, however, many local governments and their departments establish independent websites, aiming at showing officials’ performance, managing superiors` inspection and increasing budget( Xie, 2011; Zhai, 2010). These goals result in that citizens’ values are neglected and promotion of government websites is paid little attention.
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