Interactions on Government Facebook Pages: An Empirical Analysis

There is a growing body of research on government use of Facebook (FB) and citizen engagement; however there is a paucity of empirical research that identify the extent of agency and audience engagement on government FB pages. Little is known if different types of agencies engage differently in FB. Based on a large-scale world-first empirical analysis of over 145 federal government FB pages, this article presents insights on online participation in terms of government posts and citizen interactions observed over three years (2013-2016) across different types of agencies (i.e. operational, policy, regulatory and specialist). Preliminary findings show convincing agency and audience engagement on FB pages as a platform for sharing and communicating. However there are differences among the agencies in terms of audience and agency engagement relative to post activity and interactions. The findings have implications for federal government agencies, both from benchmarking and capability building perspectives

Empirical Analysis of Posts and Interactions: A case of Australian Government Facebook Pages

Research on government use of Facebook (FB) and citizen engagement has increased in the last five years or so; however there is a scarcity of empirical research that identify the extent of agency and audience engagement on government FB pages. Questions still remains unanswered if agencies with dissimilar functional focus engage differently in FB. Based on a large-scale world-first empirical analysis of over 147 federal government FB pages, this article presents insights on online participation in terms of government posts and citizen interactions observed over three years (2013-2016) across different types of agencies (i.e. operational, policy, regulatory and specialist). Preliminary findings show convincing agency and audience engagement on FB pages as a platform for sharing and communicating. However there are differences among the agencies in terms of audience and agency engagement relative to post activity and interactions. The findings have implications for federal government agencies, both from benchmarking and capability building perspectives. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol8/iss4/6

Comunicação pública externa digital do Estado Português: um estudo comparativo exploratório das plataformas digitais das embaixadas portuguesas no Brasil (Brasília), Estados Unidos da América (Washington DC), África do Sul (Pretória), Alemanha (Berlim), e Japão (Tóquio)

Quando se fala de estilos de comunicação ligados a instituições governamentais, é fácil perceber que estes normalmente têm um caracter bastante formal, informativo e imperativo, e que em instituições que representam essas mesmas instituições governamentais o cenário não muda de figura. É com o objectivo de responder qual é o estado da comunicação digital de 5 embaixadas de Portugal e que estratégias de comunicação externa digital são utilizadas que realizo um estudo comparativo exploratório das plataformas digitais (Websites e Facebook) das embaixadas portuguesas no Brasil (Brasília), Estados Unidos da América (Washington DC), África do Sul (Pretória), Alemanha (Berlim) e Japão (Tóquio). A passagem do estilo de comunicação tradicional das embaixadas para as plataformas digitais traz à discussão a importância da internet como canal para a implementação de estratégias de comunicação mais eficientes para as embaixadas. Ligada à importância do estudo exploratório estão quatro elementos chave: Personalização, Marca de nação, Reputação e Interaccionismo simbólico. Neste estudo, estes elementos são alinhados com opções metodológicas e de método escolhidas, e que colocam em destaque a ruptura entre os estilos de comunicação tradicional e o digital. O sucesso de uma comunicação digital efectiva encontra-se na gestão das dinâmicas que envolvem estes quatro elementos.When we talk about styles of communication connected to government institutions, it is easy to understand that these usually have a very keen formal character, informal and imperative and at institutions that represent these same government institutions the scenario does not change. With the objective of to respond what is the status of digital communication from 5 Portugal embassies and what kind of external digital communication they use, I perform these exploratory and comparative study from digital platforms (Websites an Facebook) from Portuguese embassies at Brazil (Brasilia), United States of America (Washington DC), South Africa (Pretoria), Germany (Berlin) and Japan (Tokyo). A passage from the traditional style of embassy’s communication to digital platforms brings to the discussion the importance of internet as implementation channel for more efficient communication strategies for embassies. Connected to the importance of the exploratory study are four key elements: Personalization, Brand of nation, Reputation and Symbolic interaction. In this study these elements are aligned with chosen method and methodologic options that highlight the point of rupture among the traditional style of communication and the digital style of communication. The success of an effective digital communication is found out at management of dynamics that engage these four elements