Understanding government discourses on social media: Lessons from the use of YouTube at local level1

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Osiris S. González-Galván

Local Governments around the world have taken advantage of social media during the past ten years to improve transparency and to provide public services. Challenges related to information management and citizen participation have emerged, namely at the local level where the diffusion of social media has been slower compared to initiatives launched at the national level. This paper analyzes how the use of social media can reflect a change in the discursive exchanges established between local governments in Canada and Mexico and citizens. To achieve this goal, the use of YouTube by the municipalities of Quebec and Morelia was examined by using digital methods and content analysis. The author proposes the emergence of new conditions between government and users, which are changing the discourse, identity, and communication purposes of the municipalities. However, the development of more dialogic communication processes supported by social media is still a promise, at least on YouTube.

Author(s):  
Ahmet Sarıtaş ◽  
Elif Esra Aydın

Today, using of the internet extended social media by individuals habitually enables both the business firms and politicians to reach their target mass at any time. In this context, internet has become a popular place recently where political communication and campaigns are realized by ensuring a new dimension to political campaigns. When we examine the posts and discussions in the social media, we can say that they are converted into open political sessions. As there are no censorship in such channels, individuals have a freedom to reach to any partial/impartial information and obtain transparent and fast feedback, and with this regard, political parties, leaders and candidates have a chance to be closer to electors. In this study, it is aimed to give information about the social media, present what medium has been used for election campaigns from the past until today and besides, by considering the effects of effective and efficient use of social media and new trends related to the internet by politicians, together with their applications in the world, to make suggestions about its situation and application in Turkey.


2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem

The article examines both civil society initiatives that seek to address the mass violence of 1965 and 1966 and the state's responses to them. Unlike other political-transition contexts in the world, a transitional justice approach is apparently a formula that state authorities have found difficult to implement nationally for this particular case. The central government has, through its institutions, sporadically responded to some of the calls from civil society groups and has even initiated policy reforms to support such initiatives. Nevertheless, these responses were not sustained and any suggested programmes have always failed to be completed or implemented. Simultaneously, however, NGOs and victims are also voicing their demands at the local level. Many of their initiatives involve not only communities but also local authorities, including in some cases the local governments. In some aspects, these “bottom-up” approaches are more successful than attempts to create change at the national level. Such approaches challenge what Kieran McEvoy refers to as an innate “seductive” quality of transitional justice, but at the same time these approaches do, in fact, aim to “seduce” the state to adopt measures for truth and justice.


Author(s):  
Cecilia G. Manrique ◽  
Gabriel G. Manrique

This chapter is an attempt to show how the use of social media in one country, the Republic of the Philippines, has grown and has been used to encourage political awareness and participation among the Filipino masses. The country is ranked among the most technologically savvy in the world but ironically is also considered one of the most corrupt countries as well. The authors believe that, as a result of the showings Filipinos have made when called upon via social media to oust corrupt officials, there is a method whereby such knowledge can be harnessed for the good thus alleviating scandals and ultimately corruption in the country. This research points to the direction the country, and various other countries in the world in similar situations, may take in order to combat corruption through greater citizen participation.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josevana de Lucena Rodrigues ◽  
Sérgio Castro Gomes ◽  
Fabrício Quadros Borges

Purpose This paper aims to measure the potential for electronic participation of Brazilian citizens via Facebook as social media, identifying latent factors that provide a favorable environment for such participation by Brazilian municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Based on these factors, the Potential Index for Electronic Participation (PIEP) of municipalities is calculated. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical discussion is based on the literature on electronic government and citizen participation. In the methodology, exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis have been used to identify latent factors and to classify PIEP according to the clusters. Findings The results of the research point to serious regional discrepancies regarding the level of participation in social media, highlighting an urgent need for national e-government policies to be rethought from a regionalized point of view. Originality/value The research enhances understanding of the relation between sociodemographic indicators such as income, education, employment and those concerning the access to and effective use of social media technologies by citizens and local governments.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1560-1572
Author(s):  
Cecilia G. Manrique ◽  
Gabriel G. Manrique

This chapter is an attempt to show how the use of social media in one country, the Republic of the Philippines, has grown and has been used to encourage political awareness and participation among the Filipino masses. The country is ranked among the most technologically savvy in the world but ironically is also considered one of the most corrupt countries as well. The authors believe that, as a result of the showings Filipinos have made when called upon via social media to oust corrupt officials, there is a method whereby such knowledge can be harnessed for the good thus alleviating scandals and ultimately corruption in the country. This research points to the direction the country, and various other countries in the world in similar situations, may take in order to combat corruption through greater citizen participation.


Author(s):  
Diaz Romero Leocadia

This chapter describes how social media, if correctly used, can enhance cultural, political, economic and social engagement. They also represent key communication tools for administrators to highlight the principles of openness, transparency, and to promote civic engagement. Nowadays, local governments have launched social media strategies. After reviewing necessary categories such as E-Government and E-Democracy, this chapter explores in what ways the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can benefit governance, and foster transparency, participation. The chapter describes contemporary setbacks and challenges officials at the local level which have been encountered in the implementation and development of social media. Finally, it offers an empirical approach of the utilization of ICTs by the Office of the Mayor of New York City and, therefore, describes the portal NYC.gov.


2022 ◽  
pp. 482-498
Author(s):  
Diaz Romero Leocadia

This chapter describes how social media, if correctly used, can enhance cultural, political, economic and social engagement. They also represent key communication tools for administrators to highlight the principles of openness, transparency, and to promote civic engagement. Nowadays, local governments have launched social media strategies. After reviewing necessary categories such as E-Government and E-Democracy, this chapter explores in what ways the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can benefit governance, and foster transparency, participation. The chapter describes contemporary setbacks and challenges officials at the local level which have been encountered in the implementation and development of social media. Finally, it offers an empirical approach of the utilization of ICTs by the Office of the Mayor of New York City and, therefore, describes the portal NYC.gov.


Human Affairs ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Passini

AbstractIn the past few years, a wave of protest has spread across the world. The particularity of these uprisings lies in the way the Internet is used to support them. Scholars have analyzed these movements as being closely related to a generation that relies on the Internet as a means of organizing themselves as a force of social change. That is, the Internet is seen as a way of promoting the active participation of young people in political issues. Public opinion and the mass media hail the Arab Spring revolutions as movements beneficial to the democratization of oppressive regimes. By contrast, when disobedient movements emerge in democratic countries, they are generally more cautious in evaluating these movements as enriching democracy. This cautious opinion also concerns the use of social media. In this article, the so-called Twitter revolutions are discussed in light of the theories of social psychology that analyze the relationship between disobedience and democracy.


Mousaion ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tshepho Lydia Mosweu

Social media as a communication tool has enabled governments around the world to interact with citizens for customer service, access to information and to direct community involvement needs. The trends around the world show recognition by governments that social media content may constitute records and should be managed accordingly. The literature shows that governments and organisations in other countries, particularly in Europe, have social media policies and strategies to guide the management of social media content, but there is less evidence among African countries. Thus the purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of usage of social media by the Botswana government in order to determine the necessity for the governance of liquid communication. Liquid communication here refers to the type of communication that goes easily back and forth between participants involved through social media. The ARMA principle of availability requires that where there is information governance, an organisation shall maintain its information assets in a manner that ensures their timely, efficient and accurate retrieval. The study adopted a qualitative case study approach where data were collected through documentary reviews and interviews among purposively selected employees of the Botswana government. This study revealed that the Botswana government has been actively using social media platforms to interact with its citizens since 2011 for increased access, usage and awareness of services offered by the government. Nonetheless, the study revealed that the government had no official documentation on the use of social media, and policies and strategies that dealt with the governance of liquid communication. This study recommends the governance of liquid communication to ensure timely, efficient and accurate retrieval when needed for business purposes.


AJIL Unbound ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Giesela Rühl

The past sixteen years have witnessed the proliferation of international commercial courts around the world. However, up until recently, this was largely an Asian and a Middle Eastern phenomenon. Only during the past decade have Continental European countries, notably Germany, France and the Netherlands, joined the bandwagon and started to create new judicial bodies for international commercial cases. Driven by the desire to attract high-volume commercial litigation, these bodies try to offer international businesses a better dispute settlement framework. But what are their chances of success? Will more international litigants decide to settle their disputes in these countries? In this essay, I argue that, despite its recently displayed activism, Continental Europe lags behind on international commercial courts. In fact, although the various European initiatives are laudable, most cannot compete with the traditional market leaders, especially the London Commercial Court, or with new rivals in Asia and the Middle East. If Continental Europe wants a role in the international litigation market, it must embrace more radical change. And this change will most likely have to happen on the European––not the national––level.


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