Political Public Relations and the Promotion of Participatory, Transparent Government Through Social Media

Abstract

Using data collected from more than 450 local government officials from municipalities across the United States, this study examines the impact that various community features have on local governments' social media use. It specifically addresses how staff and time resources, privacy concerns, citizen expectations, social media effectiveness, staff size, and public records requirements affect extent of use of social media for networking, research, and conferencing purposes. Ultimately, this examination of social media use reveals how they are used as a strategic and public relations function to promote more participatory and transparent government. Results indicate that, overall, citizen expectations and perceived social media effectiveness by government officials are strong predictors of social media use.