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ocial media are creating new ways for the government and city administrations to reach out to citizens, which, unfortunately, does not necessarily translate into faster public services.

The Jakarta administration, for instance, has more than 100 social media accounts across its agencies and working groups to communicate with citizens, according to Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.

He said the administration was looking at people’s interaction in social media as a trend they needed to catch up with rather than a problem to be overcome.

“We have more than 100 social media accounts with 74 operators,” Anies said at the panel discussion “Government Digital Media Festival” on Wednesday.

He added that, to address the new trend, the administration had set up lines of communication through WhatsApp groups to make sure each social media account put up verified and uniform information across all city agencies and working units.

Anies noted that there was a flurry of information about the city on social media, be it true or false, that needed to be addressed and verified.

He cited as an example that a lot of information about floods circulated across the internet during the rainy season. Anies said the administration now had reliable sources among residents to verify that information.

“We now have 5,000 verified [citizen] reporters. They’re volunteers,” Anies said.

Some neighborhoods in the capital had volunteered to monitor the water level of rivers that run through the city. The volunteers would then report their observation to neighborhood unit (RT) and community unit (RW) head via WhatsApp.

The reports would then be forwarded to the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency using Qlue, a complaint-handling app introduced by former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, which is managed by the Jakarta Smart City (JSC) unit.

Late last month, the city administration distributed information via the JSC to all municipalities in the capital about the importance of using Qlue in flood mitigation efforts.

Anies went on saying that his administration also aimed to have citizens participate in city planning with the government as their collaborator. To do that, Jakarta has multiple channels for citizens to lodge complaints about the city.

The JSC oversees seven complaint channels, namely the administration’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts, the “Balai Warga” section of jakarta.go.id, the email address dki@jakarta.go.id, an SMS hotline at +628111272206, LAPOR! SMS at 1706 and Qlue.

All district offices also receive complaints made in person, with employees inputting the data into the JSC’s citizen relationship manager system that aggregates the data for analysis.

Besides receiving complaints, the administration welcomes citizens’ ideas for city improvements through jakarta.beride.id, which as of Wednesday afternoon has received a total of 103 suggestions.

JSC staffer Orizon Astonia said Beride was similar to Musrenbang, the planning development forums held by RT and RW.

He said JSC also worked to gather data about city administration programs from agencies and working units to be translated into social media posts that were easy to understand and to which residents could relate.

Meanwhile, Jakartans also increasingly use social media to get first-hand information about the city.

Prio Utomo, 25, uses his Instagram account to follow accounts such as the The Jakarta Administration @dkijakarta and the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry @kkpgoid to gain information and voice complaints concerning the city and the ministry.

The college student said the accounts could be responsive when citizens voiced complaints, though this was not always followed by immediate action. He cited his experience from a few months ago, when he posted a comment on the @dkijakarta account about flooding near his home in Kampung Rambutan, East Jakarta.

“It was not immediately followed up; only a few months later did [Jakarta Public Facility Maintenance Agency workers handle the flooding],” Prio said.

Another resident, Melinda Novianna Woen, 28, a university lecturer, follows the Jakarta Transportation Agency on Instagram at @dishubdkijakarta and @jakarta_tourism.

“I follow those two accounts to keep abreast of conditions and information on Jakarta streets,” Melinda said.

She said that, at times, the Jakarta Transportation Agency account could be a bit slower than accounts not managed by the non-government, such as the popular @jktinfo, in providing information for example about traffic congestion.