Citizens' perceptions on social media and public value

Abstract

In South Africa, there are a number of government institutions that have established social media presence. However social media technology is a relatively new phenomenon and not much is known about what citizens perceive to be valuable during social media interactions with government. This has resulted in government being unable to meet social media demands from citizens. This research is aimed at exploring citizens’ perceptions of how Facebook can effectively be used by government, and to what extent social media can create public value. A public sector organization was used as a case study for this research and online semi structured interviews were conducted on Facebook with citizens who have visited the organisation and are social media users. Face to face interviews were also conducted with citizens who are not social media users to understand the reasons for non-use. The literature review revealed the benefits of social media use in various functions of government globally. Facebook is the preferred social media platform for all forms of communication for participating citizens and is mainly accessed through mobile technology. This is line with literature confirming Facebook as the leading social media platform globally and in South Africa. The findings of the study revealed that effective social media implementation in government can support key four dimensions of public value – efficiency, transparency, accountability, citizen engagement. In terms of trust, social media can facilitate trust, however the entrenchment of trust is dependent upon government achieving public outcomes that improves the lives of people and not necessarily social media use alone. The findings further showed that an enabling environment should be created for successful social media implementation - comprising of a social media strategy, a capacitated operational environment with skills and expertise on social media and ongoing support from the highest structures in government. The key barriers to social media use were identified as English illiteracy, costs related to Internet connectivity, which marginalized some communities resulting in social exclusion. Recommendations were provided in terms of using this study as a model for social media implementation across all three spheres of government.