Enhancing User Engagement with Elected Officials: Contextual Predictors Influencing the Use of Social Network Applications on Municipal Web Sites

Marc Fudge
Additional contact information
Marc Fudge: Department of Public Administration, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA, USA

International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD), 2014, vol. 5, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: Keenly aware of the growing number of people using social networks to communicate, governments have begun to provide this popular form of communication on their own web sites in an effort to promote engagement among residents and public administrators. Yet despite the growing popularity of social networks on government web sites, it is unclear whether municipalities have begun providing links to social network sites on their homepage that allow users to discuss salient issues directly with elected officials. Furthermore, for cities that do offer this heightened level of engagement, it is unclear if an implementation strategy was followed. This exploratory study examines the factors impacting U.S. local governments to provide social network applications that allow users to communicate directly with elected officials on the government website. The study then explores the benefits and challenges elected officials face when determining the extent of their public communication efforts. Finally, a social network application strategy is developed to assist elected officials when deciding whether or not to use social networks to communicate with the public.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve. ... 4018/ijtd.2014070101 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:igg:jtd000:v:5:y:2014:i:3:p:1-21

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD) is currently edited by Ali Hussein Saleh Zolait

More articles in International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD) from IGI Global
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journal Editor ().