An Empirical Analysis of Local Government Social Media Communication: Models of E-government Interactivity and Public Relations

Abstract

In this study we analyze the communication of local government departments on a social media platform. We analyze Facebook messages according to three models of e-government interactivity, namely: one-way push, two-way pull, and networking, which we integrate with the Excellence theory of public relations by adding the fourth model we term impression management. We conduct a content analysis on 1,472 posts of 52 distinct municipal-level departments of 16 cities across the U.S. We find that most content examined refers to one-way push communication, or the provision of information about policy or department related matters. We also find that much of the content is used for impression management or favorable publicity, which includes an attention to positive imagery and acknowledgements of appreciation toward others. Collaborative or networking type of activity is adopted less than ten percent of the time. We also explore the differences in social media communication strategies across different types of organizations and provide measures of page and content popularity. We find significant differences in strategies and suggest explanations based on a socio-technical view of technology adoption and the particularities of the organizations' missions and purposes. We end this paper with a discussion on the benefits and perils of social media government communication. We suggest that future research may fruitfully examine the factors that contribute to the different levels of interactivity that are observed in the use of these platforms by governments.