World leaders at G-20 Summit use secure social media software

By eGovAsia Editors | Dec 9, 2010

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SINGAPORE –  Social software helped world leaders, diplomats and policy makers collaborate at the recent G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, the second time this year that the solution played a role in the event. 

The OpentText software was first used at the G-20 summit in Toronto in June, marking the first time social media tools had been used at a G-20 to help participants work together during the forum.

As with the Toronto G-20, delegates in Seoul were also able to access the OpenText application from their BlackBerrys, iPhones and iPads. The application supported multiple languages to enhance the ability of participants to collaborate and use the social software productively.

“At the G-20, officials wanted to bring continuity to the way people from around the world work with each other and share knowledge over time,” said James Latham, Chief Marketing Officer at Open Text. “The ongoing international work of the G-20 requires the kind of strong social-collaborative platform we’ve created, and we’ve seen the success so far through two G-20 summits this year.”

Given the heightened focus on security and privacy around the globe, G-20 organizers avoided use of consumer-grade social media tools, which lack enterprise-strength security controls. At the same time, social media offers better ways for people to connect, share and collaborate, than email, so a solution that combined the benefits while reducing the risks was needed. 

The Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was established in 1999 to bring together industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy, in response to financial crises of the late 1990s.