The Internet is a major source for health information but contributes to the digital divide and health disparities. Minorities with low literacy skills are at a particular disadvantage in obtaining online information. A website was created with health information presented through videos in Amharic and an interface that does not require reading skills to enable users with low/no literacy to navigate among topics. In all, 225 Israeli Ethiopian immigrants were asked to use the website, most with low/no literacy skills. Participants were excited about it, but those with low/no literacy felt they needed support and training for future use. Some felt it was too difficult. The findings point to unexpected potential sociocultural uses for the website for immigrants with different levels of literacy skills. The analysis yielded two user typologies that can help identify user needs and segmentation, a culture-centered adaptation of the technology acceptance model, and implications for communication infrastructure theory.

PurposeThe current study seeks to present and examine the strategies, management and dissemination of information on social media platforms by Israeli government organizations and agencies.Design/methodology/approachThe article uses the “Case Study” approach, through semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with directors in charge of the use of social media in government departments.FindingsThe findings indicate that government agencies tend to favor Facebook over other social network platforms, in order to reach the widest possible audience. They do this by adhering to the platform's limitations, such as regularly using sponsored advertising to increase reach and visibility, and also by publishing visual content, such as videos and images, at the expense of text. In addition, the impact of respondents to adopt social media outweighs the use and importance awarded to traditional government websites. A clear preference is evident toward cultivating and strengthening existing information on social media at the expense of further developing official websites.Originality/valueFindings and conclusions from this type of research can help digital media directors and content editors in government agencies, to improve the quality of their content and improve the accessibility of the information they share online. In addition, the findings of the study strengthen the growing body of knowledge focused on the relationship between government ministries and social media.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the information distributed on social media by government ministries. In addition, this study seeks to categorize and identify the characteristics of the highest engaging government social media posts.Design/methodology/approachThis article is based on content analysis to examine the work of Israeli government ministries on Facebook. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze 6,292 posts posted over a six-month period, and a sample of 230 of the most popular posts was analyzed qualitatively.FindingsFindings indicate that government ministries primarily direct and link to internal Facebook pages, with few, if any, referrals to official government websites. In addition, the types of content that generate the highest levels of engagement are classified as operations and events or symbolic acts (e.g. greetings or condolences) and are containing visual content as photos or video clips.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on the topic in several ways. First, it presents findings from a cross-national study of government authorities and organizations that operate and serve diverse populations in a multicultural country. Second, this study presents a novel examination of information strategies by government organizations with focusing on the characteristics of links, media types, content and posting frequency.

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine the information needs and information seeking behaviors of Israeli citizens during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2020, with an emphasis on the dissemination of digital information by government agencies.Design/methodology/approachThe research approach underlying this investigation is of the “case study” type, employing semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with 24 Israeli citizens regarding their perceptions and experiences with government information and government services during the first months of the coronavirus.FindingsThe findings of this study reveal that most participants indicated feelings of media fatigue as a result of increased exposure to news media and social media, to the point of experiencing information overload. Second, participants described feeling a lack of clear information and poor access to accurate health and official information at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis in Israel. Third, participants in the authors’ study noted that most of the information to which they were exposed about the virus came to them through communal connections such as friends and family, via social media and messaging apps like WhatsApp. In general, the participants expressed satisfaction with the quality and availability of the data and extensive information of government ministries on social networks, together with a lack of satisfaction due to difficulties in usage and a lack of clear information on traditional government websites.Originality/valueThe findings present the information acquisition and the experience of citizens in situations of national emergencies and crises, in a new light, through a focus on the dissemination of government, health and news information.

PurposeSocial media has been widely adopted by politicians and political parties during elections and routine times and has been discussed before. However, research in the field has so far not addressed how a political leader's private or official social media account affects their message, language and style. The current study examined how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu uses his private Facebook account, compared to his use of his official Facebook page “Prime Minister of Israel.”Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the author identified the differences between these two digital entities using in-depth content analysis based on all posts (N = 1,484) published on the two pages over a 12-month period between 2018 and 2019.FindingsThe study’s findings indicate that Netanyahu regularly uses his personal page to address topics that are not represented on his official page, such as mentioning and attacking political rivals, presenting political agenda, and criticizing Israeli journalists and media organizations. Netanyahu's private Facebook account is also used to comment on personal events such as the criminal indictments he is facing and family affairs.Originality/valueThe findings highlight the need to investigate the different identities that politicians maintain on social media when they use personal or official accounts, sometimes on the same platform. The medium matters, yet the author also discovered that a leader's choice of account and its title are also important.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-01-2021-0004.

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This article explores how senior police officers perceive the presence of the police on social media. While interviewees argued that the police have a “duty of presence” on social media, they also reported that it should focus on information-provision and image-enhancement on the police’s home turf, avoiding confrontations in “external” social media arenas. In addition to its contribution to understanding perceptions of social media in public organizations by collecting data from “elite interviewees,” this paper also makes a theoretical contribution by introducing internal and external social media arenas as significant variables that assist in understanding public organization social media usage. Building on Mergel’s (2013) model of modes of operation of public organizations in social media (representation, engagement, and networking), this study demonstrates that representation prevails in internal social media arenas, while networking is more characteristic of external social media arenas.

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