Social Media and The COVID-19 Response: A Case Study of Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Zarqa Shaheen Ali ◽  
Wen Jiao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
User Reviews ◽  
Business Innovation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Official Information

COVID-19 pandemic is spreading across the globe, causing huge losses to humans and changing people’s lifestyles. New Zealand has also suffered from this fatal virus outbreak. Social media has been used by governments from many countries for communication about COVID-19, but the research on social media used in COVID-19 remains limited. This research aims to study how the leading New Zealand business agency, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), used Facebook to disseminate COVID-19, and how businesses and the public benefitted from it. Facebook posts from MBIE published over two months from March 18, 2020, to May 12, 2020, as well as user reviews were collected and thematically analysed. Before the research was conducted, an Official Information Act request was submitted to MBIE and an approval confirmation was received for using any publicly available information released by MBIE. The findings indicate Facebook was used by MBIE as a comprehensive channel to address COVID-19, as well as being an avenue to interact with businesses and people, and businesses and people benefitted from it in multiple aspects.

scholarly journals Making equal rights to health an election issue in NZ local body elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Stone ◽  
D e b Leyland
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Health Inequity ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Body

Abstract In New Zealand there are 20 district health boards (DHBs) with local elections every 3 years. There is low voter turnout for these, we suspect because the public has low cognizance of the role DHBs have in governing their health and disability system. Good governance ensures everyone whatever ethnicity, gender or sexual proclivity, from birth to old age, able or disabled, mentally well or unwell, drugfree or addicted, has equal rights of dignified access to healthcare. Without public engagement in DHB elections, the community risks having candidates elected that also don't understand their role through a preventative public health framework or human rights lens. The United Community Action Network (UCAN) developed a human rights framework and Health Charter for people driven into poverty by the costs of staying well in NZ. The framework outlines 6 social determinants of health needing protection through policy, to ensure all enjoy their rights to health. UCAN and the Public Health Association of New Zealand (PHA) partnered to raise public and the candidates' awareness during 2019 elections, of these social determinants causing inequity in health outcomes. A series of short explainer-videos were created for sharing through social media during the election build-up period, helping to promote PHA Branches' public Meet the Candidates events. Post-election, a longer film was produced to send to the elected DHB members. Our theory of change centred on spotlighting health inequity for voters, so that they would elect DHB members who had the greatest understanding and commitment to addressing this issue. With shareable videos we aimed to attract audience, raise awareness and debate the policy solutions to health inequity with candidates, enabling more informed choice amongst the voting public. Post-election, we maintain supportive relationships with the elected DHB members that promised their commitment to our Health Charter during their campaigns. Key messages Using videos and social media, local body elections provide an opportunity to promote everyone’s right to affordable healthcare, supporting and informing voter decision-making. UCAN's Health Charter is an advocacy resource for raising awareness of the social determinants of health inequity and poverty for people with mental illness, addiction and disability.

scholarly journals Free and Frank Advice and the Official Information Act

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kibblewhite ◽  
Peter Boshier
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Government ◽  
Work Programme ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Official Information

Concern exists that New Zealand hasn’t struck the right balance between two potentially competing principles of good government: officials should provide free and frank advice to ministers, and the public should have opportunities to participate in decision making and hold the government to account. Steps we have taken to address this include: strengthening constitutional underpinnings for free and frank advice (Cabinet Manual changes and issuing expectations for officials); a work programme to improve government agency practice in relation to the Official Information Act; and the Office of the Ombudsman reducing uncertainty about when advice can be withheld by issuing new principles-based guidance and providing more advisory services.

scholarly journals Public engagement and dialogic accounting through social media during COVID-19 crisis: a missed opportunity?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Landi ◽  
Antonio Costantini ◽  
Marco Fasan ◽  
Michele Bonazzi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Agencies

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate why and how public health agencies employed social media during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to foster public engagement and dialogic accounting.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed the official Facebook pages of the leading public agencies for health crisis in Italy, United Kingdom and New Zealand and they collected data on the number of posts, popularity, commitment and followers before and during the outbreak. The authors also performed a content analysis to identify the topics covered by the posts.FindingsEmpirical results suggest that social media has been extensively used as a public engagement tool in all three countries under analysis but – because of legitimacy threats and resource scarcity – it has also been used as a dialogic accounting tool only in New Zealand. Findings suggest that fake news developed more extensively in contexts where the public body did not foster dialogic accounting.Practical implicationsPublic agencies may be interested in knowing the pros and cons of using social media as a public engagement and dialogic accounting tool. They may also leverage on dialogic accounting to limit fake news.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to look at the nature and role of social media as an accountability tool during public health crises. In many contexts, COVID-19 forced for the first time public health agencies to heavily engage with the public and to develop new skills, so this study paves the way for numerous future research ideas.

scholarly journals A case study on the public knowledge and awareness of the Philippine Pangolin Manis culionensis (Mammalia: Pholidota: Manidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 14484-14489
Author(s):  
Frances Mae Tenorio ◽  
Joselito Baril
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Knowledge ◽  
High Demand ◽  
The Public ◽  
Illegal Market ◽  
Medicinal Value ◽  
The Social ◽  
High Degree

Pangolins are poorly known species despite their high demand in the illegal international trade.  This study has been conducted to analyze the awareness of Filipinos towards the endemic Philippine Pangolin Manis culionensis and how much they would be willing to contribute to its conservation.  The respondents were selected from the social media reach of the researchers.  The results showed that most of the respondents know about the pangolin from mass media such as news from television.  Social media is also a factor in their awareness of the animal.  They unanimously agreed that pangolins are important ecologically rather than its medicinal value in the illegal market trade.  Overall, the respondents showed a high degree of knowledge of pangolins and have favorable attitudes towards its conservation.

Implementation of Social Media Concepts for E-Government

2019 ◽  
pp. 1071-1091
Author(s):  
Raimundo Díaz-Díaz ◽  
Daniel Pérez-González
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
City Council ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Public ◽  
Partnership Model ◽  
The Government ◽  
Technological Platform

Some governments have proven social media's potential to generate value through co-creation and citizen participation, and municipalities are increasingly using these tools in order to become smart cities. Nevertheless, few public administrations have taken full advantage of all the possibilities offered by social media and, as a consequence, there is a shortage of case studies published on this topic. By analyzing the case study of the platform Santander City Brain, managed by the City Council of Santander (Spain), the current work contributes to broaden the knowledge on ambitious social media projects implemented by local public administrations for e-Government; therefore, this case can be useful for other public sector's initiatives. The case studied herein proves that virtual social media are effective tools for civil society, as it is able to set the political agenda and influence the framing of political discourse; however, they should not be considered as the main channel for citizen participation. Among the results obtained, the authors have found that several elements are required: the determination and involvement of the government, a designated community manager to follow up with the community of users, the secured privacy of its users, and a technological platform that is easy to use. Additionally, the Public Private Partnership model provides several advantages to the project, such as opening new sources of funding.

Mediatization of conflict in the social media era: A case study of Sino-Indian border crisis in 2017

Journalism ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 146488491987032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shixin Ivy Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Actor Networks

Inspired by the concepts of Arrested War and actor–network theory, this study has traced and analyzed four main actors in the wars and conflicts in the social media age: social media platform, the mainstream news organizations, online users, and social media content. These four human and nonhuman actors associate, interact, and negotiate with each other in the social media network surrounding specific issues. Based on the case study of Sino-Indian border crisis in 2017, the central argument is that social media is playing an enabling role in contemporary wars and conflicts. Both professional media outlets and web users employ the functionalities of social media platforms to set, counter-set, or expand the public agenda. Social media platform embodies a web of technological and human complexities with different actors, factors, interests, and relations. These actor-networks and the macro social-political context are influential in the mediatization of conflict in the social media era.

A Social Media Big Data-Based Disaster Assessment Framework for Typhoon-induced Flood: Case Study of Typhoon Lekima

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiting Tang ◽  
Saini Yang ◽  
Weiping Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Text Classification ◽  
Text Clustering ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
The Public ◽  
Source Data ◽  
Disaster Assessment

<p>In 2019, the typhoon Lekima hit China, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to the nine provinces and municipalities on the northeastern coast of China. According to the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China, Lekima caused 66 direct fatalities, 14 million affected people and is responsible for a direct economic loss in excess of 50 billion yuan. The current observation technologies include remote sensing and meteorological observation. But they have a long time cycle of data collection and a low interaction with disaster victims. Social media big data is a new data source for natural disaster research, which can provide technical reference for natural hazard analysis, risk assessment and emergency rescue information management.</p><p>We propose an assessment framework of social media data-based typhoon-induced flood assessment, which includes five parts: (1) <strong>Data acquisition.</strong> Obtain Sina Weibo text and some tag attributes based on keywords, time and location. (2) <strong>Spatiotemporal quantitative analysis.</strong> Collect the public concerns and trends from the perspective of words, time and space of different scales to judge the impact range of typhoon-induced flood. (3) <strong>Text classification and multi-source heterogeneous data fusion analysis.</strong> Build a hazard intensity and disaster text classification model by CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks), then integrate multi-source data including meteorological monitoring, population economy and disaster report for secondary evaluation and correction. (4) <strong>Text clustering and sub event mining.</strong> Extract subevents by BIRCH (Balanced Iterative Reducing and Clustering using Hierarchies) text clustering algorithms for automatic recognition of emergencies. (5) <strong>Emotional analysis and crisis management.</strong> Use time-space sequence model and four-quadrant analysis method to track the public negative emotions and find the potential crisis for emergency management.</p><p>This framework is validated with the case study of typhoon Lekima. The results show that social media big data makes up for the gap of data efficiency and spatial coverage. Our framework can assess the influence coverage, hazard intensity, disaster information and emergency needs, and it can reverse the disaster propagation process based on the spatiotemporal sequence. The assessment results after the secondary correction of multi-source data can be used in the actual system.</p><p>The proposed framework can be applied on a wide spatial scope and even full coverage; it is spatially efficient and can obtain feedback from affected areas and people almost immediately at the same time as a disaster occurs. Hence, it has a promising potential in large-scale and real-time disaster assessment.</p>

Selling all good: how small new entrants can compete

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Collins ◽  
Kate Kearins ◽  
Helen Tregidga ◽  
Stephen Bowden
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Marketing Tool ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Broad Level

Synopsis Chris Morrison and two partners introduced the first Fairtrade bananas in New Zealand in a bid to improve the social and environmental impacts of banana consumption. The trio started All Good Bananas in 2010. Using social media as a key marketing tool, the startup had grown to take a 5 percent market share in a fiercely competitive industry dominated by big players. In 2012, the entrepreneurs needed to decide the best way to increase sales of ethically sourced products under the All Good brand. Should they expand their share of the banana market or diversify into drinks? Research methodology The case is primarily based on tape-recorded interviews by the authors with the founding entrepreneur and three employees of All Good from May to July 2012 and an analysis of the company’s website and social media activities. Other publicly available information sources were drawn upon, and a discussion held with a New Zealand national grocery chain CEO. Relevant courses and levels This case has been written for use in classes in undergraduate and graduate level entrepreneurship, strategic management and sustainability. The case can be used to illustrate how very small resource-constrained startups can compete in an industry dominated by large multinational corporations, and how Fairtrade might provide a worthy differentiation focus. It is open to a consideration of judo economics. While several of the questions ask students to consider the New Zealand context in which this case is set, knowledge of New Zealand and the various industries beyond what is offered in the case is not necessary. Theoretical bases At a broad level the case illustrates how a small, resource-constrained startup can compete against much, much larger players through a niche Fairtrade product focus and the use of alternative marketing strategies such as guerrilla marketing and social media. In relation to the competitive dynamics within an industry, this case can be used to illustrate the concept of judo economics (also referred to as judo strategy). Both the utility and potential limits of judo economics can be demonstrated through the case by considering current activities and potential future dynamics.

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