Contractors used to develop social media analytics platform.
The Hong Kong Office of the Government of CIO (OGCIO) has provided various policy bureaux/government departments (B/Ds) to assist them in implementing big data analytics projects. This includes developing a social media analytics platform (the analytics platform) so that B/Ds may, by analysing information on the social media, gauge the social sentiment better, for reference in policy formulation.
The Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit stated, OGCIO launched a Big Data Analytics Platform in September 2020 to support these initiatives.
Under the Big Data Analytics Platform, OGCIO launched the Social Media Text Analytics System (System) in the same month.
It allows bureaux and departments (B/Ds) to specify the subject keywords and the media (such as social media platforms, online newspapers, and online fora) according to their needs, and through the System, analyse and understand information and trends on social media in the public domain, such as popular keywords, popular key topics, sentiment analysis, in order to understand the public’s views and concerns on the issues involved.
Such information would provide useful reference for policy formulation or enhancement of initiatives being implemented. For example, by collecting and analysing the latest discussion topics on information security on social media through the System, OGCIO could apprehend the hot topics on information security and risks or incidents, so as to help formulate speedily mitigation measures to strengthen the capabilities of government systems against cybersecurity threats.
Two hundred and sixty government staff from 29 B/Ds have registered with the System since its launch. On a monthly basis, there were about 300 logins per month to view the detailed analysis of public opinions and the total viewing time was 33 hours, with system development work commencing in October 2019.
In formulating the system design, the contractor has considered different B/Ds’ views on the system functions and applications required, including functions like selecting types of social media for analysis and the receiving summaries of public opinions through electronic mails. The system development expenditure was about HK$267,000, and the estimated annual operating expenditure is HK$161,000, including a media information subscription fee of HK$118,000 of and HK$43,000 for system maintenance expenses.
The development works for the Social Media Text Analytics System and the Big Data Analytics Platform were undertaken by different contractors.
