Social Media in Local Government

The revolution in information and communication technologies has been changing not only the daily lives of people but also the interactions between governments and citizens. The digital government or electronic government (e-government) has started as a new form of public organization that supports and redefines the existing and new information, communication and transaction-related interactions with stakeholders (e.g., citizens and businesses), especially through the Internet and Web technologies, with the purpose of improving government performance and processes (Bekkers & Hornsburg, 2005). Social media has become a central part of how people interact with friends, colleagues and communities.

While this initial stance kept politicians on the defensive, enough time has passed that individual politicians and even entire governments are starting to use social media to connect with their communities in new, open ways (Sniderman, 2011). However, as these social platforms are becoming more pervasive in society, studies of their influence on our lives has grown but have not kept pace with the use in government. Because social media is a relatively recent phenomenon, research on social media use in government is limited. Literature on the effectiveness of social media and government has increased but only in some areas. The purpose of this review is to understand governance through citizen engagement and provide a working context of the term social media. The literature review will provide a basis for what is known about the use of social media by government, in particular at the local level.

Citizen Engagement

Community engagement is now a priority in many public sector agencies. Besides appealing to democratic principles, citize...

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...ation, or more efficient government management (worldbank.org, n.d). E-government [2] that describe the patterns of interactions of digital governments with the public: The first stage of e-government focuses on “digital presence” with simple information-providing Web sites of a passive nature, namely a digitization of government information. The second stage provides simple Web-based interactions of governments with citizens, businesses and other government agencies through email contact and interactive forms that can dynamically provide information needed. The third stage of this evolution provides online transaction services such as license renewal, permit applications and tax payments. The next stage is when the government promotes shared governance to transform how the government operates, in terms of seamless information flow and collaborative decision making.