Social media use in local government: Linkage of technology, task, and organizational context

Despite the expectation that social media use in the public sector contributes to enhancing government's transparency, few studies have been investigated whether social media use actually leads to more disclosure during environmental incidents in practice and how social media influence local governments and their officials' information disclosure. In this article, we model information disclosure during environmental incidents as an evolutionary game process between the central government and local government in social media context, and examine the internal mechanism that how social media influence the progress of information disclosure during environmental incidents. The findings indicate that social media plays an active constructive role in central-local government game relations. Specific- ally, social media can provides an efficient information channels for the central government supervise regional officials in environmental incidents, and thus improves its supervision efficiency, and it also provides an important means for internet mobilization and online-offline interaction by encouraging the public exchange information and express their views, and in turn forces local governments and their officials tend to disclosure ahead.

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Social Media Use in Local Government: An Australian Perspective

International Journal of Public Administration ◽

10.1080/01900692.2014.903270 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 37 (10) ◽

pp. 666-675 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Khayri Omar ◽

Rosemary Stockdale ◽

Helana Scheepers

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Local Government ◽

Media Use ◽

Social Media Use

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Social media use in government health agencies: The COVID-19 impact

Information Polity ◽

10.3233/ip-210326 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan ◽

David Valle-Cruz

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Local Government ◽

Media Use ◽

Research Question ◽

Government Agency ◽

User Engagement ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Message Structure ◽

Mexican Government ◽

Communication Flow

Government communications typically use social media for federal agencies, national policies, and emergency cases. However, it is crucial to understand the use of these platforms within local government agencies. This investigation fills this gap and includes social media data during three months of the COVID-19 pandemic and compares it with previous trends. The research question that leads this research is: How has government social media use and communication behavior changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic? This research analyzes a study case applied to a local Mexican government agency named ISSEMyM. We analyze the data during the period between October 2017 and June 2020. Findings reveal a consistent use of Twitter and Facebook for communication by the ISSEMyM government agency. Also, it indicates an increase in engagement and communication flow over three years. We found that official local government communications remained unchanged during the whole period. We found no change in interaction, number of followers, and message structure during this period; however, the COVID-19 pandemic radically alters interactions, followers, and user engagement.

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