Jakarta (6/01). The social media is currently susceptible to conflicts, and so some of the media declare that Indonesia is in “Hoax Emergency”. Technological advances enable easy access to much varied and faster information. However, this situation bears a fundamental weakness; the accuracy of the information is no longer the priority. This unfavorable situation has become a real challenge for the Government to re-organize the management of communication and information. Via _Focus Group Discussion called “Pemetaan Permasalahan Komunikasi dan Informasi”_ which was attended by Patria Ginting (of the President’s Communication Team), Wishnu (President’s Staff Office), Nukman Luthfie (Social Media expert), Ismail Fahmi (Founder of Awesometric) and Freddy H. Tulung (Communication expert), it is expected that the discussion would be able to map the information and communication issues.

Director General of Public Information and Communication, Rosarita Niken Widyastuti, stated that the media is currently metamorphosing with the development in IT, political and economic developments which, in turn, changes the communication culture, in particular the virtual world that influences the relationship in the real world.  “These have certainly influenced the national interests. Conflicts existing in the virtual world might as well affect the real world”, she added.

“Literacy among the public, enticing other people to join into the opposing social media and the provision of knowledge on social media to governmental officials must be urgently done”, said NukmanLutfie, a social media expert. This statement is confirmed by Wishnu who added.

“Literacy shall not only be made to the public but also to the governmental apparatus in order to prevent communication chaos”. Freddy H Tulung also added that continuous social media literacy must be conducted by both the Government and public, he said, “People are not only be educated to select information before transmitting it to others but also to create productive communities in communication.”

Patria added that the process of literacy can be checked by the mainstream media resources before the information is shared. “It is necessary to lead the public back to believe in mainstream media outside the capitalism of media”, Patria said. His opinion is in line with the data presented by Nukman, that states that most of the present generation tends to obtain data from thesocial media rather than from the mainstream media.

“The process of democracy must be maintained via the credible counter narrative transmitted quickly in the social media language, and build relationship social media communities and regularly conduct fact checking via sites,” Ismail added.

(DJIKP Team)