<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Research has shown the potential of social media to disseminate important information as well as transform citizen engagement with government. However, implementation proves difficult, especially in public sector organizations. The success, impact and performance of these new forms of networked interactions are yet to be fully explored, especially at the local level. Many municipalities are experimenting with social media use, but few actively measure their performance on these platforms and their interactions with users. Different frameworks have been proposed to describe government communication types and activity on social media. They are addressed here through three phases that refer to forms of government‐citizen communication on social media. The original assessment method developed here contributes to the existing literature and provides guidance to practitioners. Empirically, our research relies on a database of cities that have between 100,000 and 500,000 inhabitants in European Union member states located in Central and Eastern Europe. It provides social media metrics for these cities (N=82 and compares various indicators on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This contributes to a better assessment ofhow social media platforms are used by local governments in the region.</p>
</abstract>

Research has shown the potential of social media to disseminate important information as well as transform citizen engagement with government. However, implementation proves difficult, especially in public sector organizations. The success, impact and performance of these new forms of networked interactions are yet to be fully explored, especially at the local level. Many municipalities are experimenting with social media use, but few actively measure their performance on these platforms and their interactions with users. Different frameworks have been proposed to describe government communication types and activity on social media. They are addressed here through three phases that refer to forms of government‐citizen communication on social media. The original assessment method developed here contributes to the existing literature and provides guidance to practitioners. Empirically, our research relies on a database of cities that have between 100,000 and 500,000 inhabitants in European Union member states located in Central and Eastern Europe. It provides social media metrics for these cities (N=82 and compares various indicators on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This contributes to a better assessment ofhow social media platforms are used by local governments in the region.

Social Media Use in Central and Eastern European Cities: Defining Local Government-Citizen Relationships through Phases

NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Research has shown the potential of social media to disseminate important information as well as transform citizen engagement with government. However,...

Social Media Use in Central and Eastern European Cities: Defining Local Government-Citizen Relationships through Phases

Published Online: Jun 11, 2023

Page range: 232 - 253

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nispa-2023-0010

Keywords
citizen engagement, digital public sector communication, participation, social media adoption, social media use

© 2023 Raphaël Zumofen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Social Media Use in Central and Eastern European Cities: Defining Local Government-Citizen Relationships through Phases

Published Online: Jun 11, 2023

Page range: 232 - 253

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nispa-2023-0010

Keywordscitizen engagement, digital public sector communication, participation, social media adoption, social media use

© 2023 Raphaël Zumofen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
citizen engagement, digital public sector communication, participation, social media adoption, social media use