Electronic participation through social media

It is widely acknowledge that many of e-Participation initiatives often attract wider audience and face serious limited citizens’ involvement. The use of social media has been seen as a hope to remedy such limitation. However, despite the recently adoption of social media the lack of citizens’ involvement in e-Participation initiatives still remains. This ongoing research paper aims at producing a general overview of e-Participation through social media. So far, the latest research works on such topic have been predominantly focused on a political context of e-Participation, where politicians-citizens interactions and activities are the central interest of the studies. Little existing studies investigate e-Participation in its own right in government context. The findings also reveal that the majority of e-Participation through social media initiatives are more informative than interactive, since few initiatives have been found that aim to considerably enhance citizen participation in policy decision making.This work has been supported by Portuguese FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology within the Project Scope UID /CEC / 00319/2013info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hit the bull's-eye: electronic participation through social media

This paper presents research findings of reviewing 42 studies concerning electronic participation (e-Participation) through social media. Overall, such initiatives have reflected the prevalence of a one-way communication strategy, what do not considerably foster citizen involvement in policy decision making process.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Electronic participation with a special reference to social media - a literature review

As a consequence of the interdisciplinary nature of Electronic Partici-pation (e-Participation), current research on the field is fragmented and scattered. The exciting blurry boundaries and the immature identity of the field are making difficult the understanding of the main domain themes being investigated, in par-ticular for “neophytes” researchers. In practice, several e-Participation initiatives often attract a wide audience but face serious limitations regarding involvement of those who attract. Recently, the potential of using social media to address cit-izens’ involvement deficit has been subject of academic debate. By consulting 44 e-Participation papers, considered highly relevant to the aforementioned chal-lenges, this paper produces a general overview of e-Participation research, par-ticularly through social media. The findings show that the e-Participation field still faces the challenge of identity and strive for gaining wider recognition as an independent research area. Concerning e-Participation through social media which seems to be partly overlooked in the field research, the politicians-citizen’s interaction has dominated scholars' attention and the adoption of such initiatives sponsored and driven by governments are rarely examine. Based on the findings, several research suggestions, which could play a significant contribution to advance future e-Participation research, are proposed

PEMANFAATAN INSTAGRAM KOMINFO KABUPATEN MALANG UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KETERLIBATAN MASYARAKAT DALAM PROGRAM EDUKASI DIGITAL

The rapid advancement of communication and information media, including mass media such as print, electronic, and online media, has had a significant impact on the lives of people and organizations. These media have become the main link in the dissemination of information, including social media that allows interaction, sharing content, and forming online networks. However, this development also brings challenges, especially related to the spread of inaccurate information, such as hoaxes and disinformation, which demands a quick and responsive response from the government, as carried out by DISKOMINFO Malang District through the social media platform Instagram to minimize negative impacts and improve people's digital literacy. This research aims to understand the positive impact of using Instagram by DISKOMINFO Malang District in expanding community participation through digital education initiatives. This research uses descriptive qualitative research methods with an interpretive social science paradigm approach. The research subjects consisted of eight employees of DISKOMINFO Malang Regency who were selected using purposive sampling method. Data were collected through interviews, observation, and documentation, and analyzed using techniques adapted from Miles and Huberman's theory, which includes data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. Data validity was tested through a data triangulation process. The results showed that the use of Instagram social media by DISKOMINFO Malang Regency has a role as a platform to build social interaction and community participation in the democratic development process. In addition, DISKOMINFO Malang Regency's Instagram is effectively used as an information medium with a varied and up-to-date content strategy, and responsive to community input. The use of Instagram tools and insights also helps in making decisions regarding posting time and the type of content used. Instagram is also utilized as a means of educational communication, especially in digital literacy education and the latest information. DISKOMINFO Malang District is active in delivering educational content, optimizing content plan creation, and increasing community participation in digital education programs, in line with efforts to increase public understanding of digital technology and its positive use

Electronic participation through social media citizens' acceptance factors at local government level

Tese de Doutoramento em Information System and TechnologyMuitas das iniciativas de Participação Eletrónica (e-Participação) − vistas neste estudo como o uso das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) para facilitar a participação do cidadão no processo de tomada de decisão política −, não têm conseguido alcançar o sucesso esperado no que concerne ao nível de envolvimento do cidadão atingido. Esta falta de envolvimento é particularmente evidente nas iniciativas lideradas e disponibilizadas pelos governos (iniciativas governamentais de e-Participação). Embora o rápido crescimento das redes sociais, especialmente do Facebook, seja apontado como um meio promissor para fomentar e melhorar o nível de participação do cidadão, o problema do baixo nível de aceitação e de envolvimento do cidadão em iniciativas de e-participação persiste. Importa, pois, compreender, conceptualizar e teorizar sobre os fatores que afetam o nível de aceitação evidenciado pelo cidadão em relação a esse tipo de iniciativas. Assim, é finalidade deste estudo investigar os fatores relevantes que influenciam a intenção dos cidadãos de aceitarem e de se envolverem nas iniciativas governamentais de e-Participação disponibilizadas através do Facebook, baseando-se na Teoria do Comportamento Planeado (Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)), devidamente estendida pela incorporação de um conjunto de fatores relevantes que emergiram da literatura relevante. Os resultados quantitativos de um questionário respondido por 400 cidadãos Jordanos, mostram que a atitude do cidadão (citizen attitude (ATT)), a eficácia de participação (participation efficacy (PE)), e o controlo comportamental percecionado (perceived behavioral control (PBC)) afetam direta e positivamente a intenção de participação do cidadão. Por sua vez, a atitude do cidadão é determinada pela eficácia de participação (participation efficacy (PE)), utilidade percecionada e compatibilidade do Facebook (perceived usefullness (PU) e compatibility (COMP)), e valor percecionado do envolvimento do cidadão nas iniciativas governamentais de e- Participação (perceived value (PV)). Contrariamente, nem as normas sociais (social norms (SN)) nem a confiança do cidadão no Facebook (citizen’s trust in Facebook (CT_FB)) têm impacto significativo na intenção e atitude do cidadão. Adicionalmente, o valor percecionado (perceived value (PV)) é influenciado pela perceção de facilidade de utilização do Facebook (perceived ease of use (PEOU)) e pela confiança dos cidadãos no governo (citizen’s trust in government (CT_GOV)). O estudo mostra ainda que os cidadãos Jordanos apresentam uma atitude positiva em relação ao envolvimento em iniciativas governamentais de e participação disponibilizadas através do Facebook mas apresentam uma intenção moderada de participar em tais iniciativas. Por ser um dos poucos trabalhos conhecidos focado no estudo da intenção dos cidadãos de aceitarem e de se envolverem em iniciativas governamentais de e-Participação disponibilizadas através das redes sociais, o estudo aqui descrito aporta contribuições relevantes para o desenvolvimento do conhecimento teórico e prático no domínio da participação eletrónica.Electronic Participation (e-Participation) initiatives, seen as the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for facilitating citizen participation in the process of policy decision-making, have often had a limited success of citizens' engagement, particularly those initiatives sponsored by governments (government-led e-Participation initiatives). While the rapid growth of using social media networks, specifically Facebook, represented a new promising venue for enhancing citizens’ participation, the problem of low-level citizens’ acceptance and engagement remains. Hence, conceptual clarity on what factors affect citizens’ acceptance of such initiatives are yet to be theorized. This study aims at investigating relevant factors that influence citizens’ intention to accept and to engage in government-led e-Participation initiatives through Facebook, based on extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) through the incorporation of a set of factors that emerged from relevant literature. Using data from a survey of 400 Jordanian citizens, the quantitative results proved that citizen attitude (ATT), participation efficacy (PE), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) directly and positively affect citizen’s intention to participate. Citizen attitude, in turn, is determined by participation efficacy (PE), perceived usefulness and compatibility of Facebook (PU and COMP), and perceived value of citizen’s involvement in government-led e-Participation initiatives (PV). However, neither social norms (SN) nor citizen’s trust in Facebook (CT_FB) have significant impact over citizen intention or attitude. Further, perceived value (PV) is influenced by perceived ease of use of Facebook (PEOU), and citizen’s trust in government (CT_GOV). Additionally, the study found that Jordanian citizens uphold relatively high positive attitude toward engaging in government-led e-Participation initiatives through Facebook but they have a moderate intention to participate in those initiatives. As the present work is one of very few studies addressing citizens’ intention to accept and to engage in e-Participation initiatives through social media in government context, the study provides important implications for theory and practice

Tweet-Sourcing Caracas: Using E-Participation for Urban Planning In Global South Cities

The purpose of this study is to explore how social media can be used as a data source and to engage citizens in urban planning and governance process. Given the rise of mobile technologies and the extensive use of social media networks in cities in the global south, electronic participation (e-participation) has become a mechanism for constant interaction between residents and government officials and is a method to collect unique information from the public. However, it is still not clear how reliable and accurate social media data can be for urban planning. Through a case study analysis of Sucre Municipality in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, this research used a social media platform, Twitter, to examine the content collected through the exchange between the public and the Mayor of Sucre over three months. The tweets were examined regarding time, location, theme and content and comparisons were made with official documents and news articles to evaluate accuracy and relevance of the data. People engage more with the Mayor than the institution and the amount of tweets regarding the city overpass political or personal ones. Slum areas use social media as an advocacy platform to rise their concerns regarding water shortage and waste management irregularities. Urban and formal areas use tweets as primary mechanism to communicate crimes and irregularities in the physical state of streets. Two tweet-sourced interactive maps were developed in web mapping platform to visualize the content of the tweets. Recommendations were made to help municipalities and planners to incorporate efficiently and critically social media as a new participatory tool for planning and governance

Marketing Communications Strategy for Curbing Youths’Unemployment through Farming in Nigeria

The rate of youths’ unemployment and poverty in Nigeria has been adjudged by the World Bank and the United Nations development index over the years to be so high. This has invariably stunted the country annual gross domestic product and economic development over the past twenty years. All efforts of various governments of the country to reverse this ugly trend through some laudable projects like skills acquisition programmes, small and medium-scale enterprises micro-credits, poverty alleviation and other programmes have not met with the requisite results, due to the get-rich-quick and consequent culture of unproductivity exhibited by the youths, who were the target beneficiaries. The newly sworn-in President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has vowed to address this problem through youths’ massive participation in farming. To what extent could marketing communications tools of  African traditional media, word-of-mouth communications (WOM), electronic-word of mouth communications (eWOM) and social-media communications be of help? This study tried to find out. Survey design was employed in gathering data which were statistically analyzed. Results indicate that the applications of African traditional media, word-of-mouth communications (WOM), electronic-word of mouth communications (E-WOM) and social-media communications, which are popular amongst the Nigerian youths will be effective marketing communications tools for motivating the youths into adopting the farming culture for poverty alleviations. That will also help in significantly changing the get-rich-quick mentality of the average Nigerian youth. Thus, it was recommended amongst other things that a nationwide marketing communications campaign based on WOM, E-WOM and social-media as major tools should be used to effectively promote youths’ participation in farming, so as to solve youths’ unemployment, poverty and crime in the land. Keywords: Marketing Communications, Farming, Youths’ Unemployment, Poverty Eradication

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE SECOND YEAR STUDENT’S ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN STKIP MUHAMMADIYAH MUARA BUNGO

The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of social media on the student’s academic achievement. The survey research method was used. Subjects were drawn from the second year students of Elementary Teacher Education Department in STKIP Muhammadiyah Muara Bungo The researcher adopted Kendall’s coefficient of concordance and factor analysis as analytical tools for the study. A survey design provides a quantitative description of the population that is sampled through the data collection process (Frankel and Wallen, 1995). The study also employed the questionnaire as the data collection instrument for the study. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data collected. The descriptive analysis tools in the SPSS were employed to develop tables and frequencies which were constructively analyzed. The result revealed that majority of respondents used whatsapp and facebook to find new friends and application for communication. Furthermore, majority of respondents experienced negative effects such as late submission of assignment, less study time and poor academic achievement due to the heavy participation on social media networks. Therefore, there were cases where others experienced improvement in their reading skill as a result of participation on social media networks. Also respondents shared ideas, discussed and shared examination among them on social media network. The study recommended the strict enforcement of STKIP Muhammadiyah Muara Bungo rule on electronic devices usage in campus, promotion of social media usage for academic purpose and counseling for addicted student

PR activity of Muslim organizations of Ukraine (on the example of the RAMU “Ummah”)

The content and main directions of PR activities of Muslim religious organizations of Ukraine were analyzed (on the example of the RAMU “Ummah”). It was determined that it is characterized by the use of many resources and modern media technologies. PR activity has a multi-channel nature: through print and electronic media, as well as radio and television, although Internet resources, including social networks, prevail. An universal model of PR activities of Muslim organizations is the posting of general information on the basics of Islamic belief and features of religious practice, as well as digitized thematic literature, on electronic resources. The Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine “Ummah” in its PR activities also uses streaming technologies, i.e. continuous broadcasting of events in real time, mainly to cover charitable, cultural and educational PR actions conducted by the organization. An important direction of the PR activities of the RAMU “Ummah” is the coverage of the participation of their leadership in state events, as well as the adoption of declarations of their interaction with the authorities and the public. The signing of the Charter of Muslims of Ukraine and the Social Concept of Muslims of Ukraine became significant. PR activity in the field of science is implemented, firstly, through the support of scientific and educational projects, and, secondly, through the coverage of scientific events, especially in the field of history, on the organization\u27s media platforms. And in the field of culture – in two aspects: as patronage and as intercultural mass communication. Substantial adjustments to the PR activity of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine “Ummah” were made under the influence of the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The leitmotif of PR activity was the affirmation in the media space of the ideas of peace, support of co-religionists – the Crimean Tatars, the military through participation in the chaplaincy movement. And after a large-scale invasion – humanitarian aid to the victims (regardless of religious affiliation) and updating on the need to identify Ukrainian Islam