South African Provincial Government Websites Fail to Meet Basic Plain Language Guidelines

"Despite well-established consequences, poor writing on government websites continues to be common," stated Fergal McGovern, CEO of VisibleThread. "In a country where the language of government is a second language for many of its citizens, poor communication will result in inefficiency and affect service delivery."

Governments that adopt plain language practices when crafting communication for citizens benefit from increased compliance, higher revenues and other positive outcomes.  VisibleThread's analysis found that only 13 percent of Provincial Government websites meet recommended readability standards. Writing on most sites is at or above a college reading level – above the capabilities of a majority of South Africa's citizens.  South Africa does not have a mandated plain language policy for government.

"Improving written communication is a relatively inexpensive undertaking for governments," added McGovern.  "Yet, despite a quick return-on-investment and other positive long term benefits, many administrations overlook the opportunity."   

VisibleThread's index ranks the clarity of provincial website writing on four distinct measures.  Specific departments performed better than others in the analysis.  The company produces its Website Clarity Index reports through data extracted from its Clarity Grader language analysis software.  Clarity Grader helps organizations extract deep insights from written content that appears online.

About VisibleThread

VisibleThread helps executives in large organizations govern content quality with less cost and risk.  Sales and marketing teams in diverse industries use our technology to improve many functions, including proposal development, contract review and brand audits. Our software finds brand compliance, poor readability and other issues in websites and documents.  Unlike consumer-grade analysis tools, VisibleThread processes hundreds of documents and web pages in minutes.  Fuelled with greater organizational intelligence, customers drive efficiency and reduce cost across their organizations.  For more information, visit www.visiblethread.com. 

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160809/396724

SOURCE VisibleThread

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