Conceptualization of the public's expectation on government micro-blogs

Abstract

The rise of government micro-blogs opens a new era for the interaction between the government and the public. As critical stakeholders, the public's opinions on the operation of government micro-blogs are important for their future improvement. In order to explore the public's expectations on government micro-blogs, contents of public micro-blogs on government micro-blogs were collected and analyzed by adopting a grounded theory approach. A conceptual model of the public's expectation on government micro-blogs was generated and its policy implications were discussed. According to the model, a government micro-blog should clearly define its target, strengthen its functions, normalize its business process, and improve its maintenance and management in order to increase its service quality. Furthermore, improving the quality of information openness, strengthening interactions with the public, and advancing the capability of solving practical problems were found to be the three specific developmental orientations of government micro-blogs in the future.