Efforts at the Boundaries: Social Media Use in Swedish Municipalities

Abstract

Abstract. Social media is used by the majority of Swedish municipalities. However, the highly interactive features of social media are often not taken advantage of. The study aims to get a better understanding of why social media is not used to its full potential in the municipality. Findings from an interview study with communicators in three Swedish municipalities reveal that the motivation for using social media is often difficult to turn into action. Tensions emerging in the use of social media result in hesitation, uncertainty and a slowing down of work practice. The processes of managing the tensions are characterized by boundary crossing between different communities, such as municipal communicators, elected officials and citizens, with social media itself as an equally important actor. The processes of boundary crossing by the municipal communicators are discussed in terms of learning processes and new emerging competences that might redefine the role of the municipal communicator and hence perhaps the public servant in general.

International Scientific Conference “New Challenges in Economic and Business Development – 2022: Responsible Growth” : Proceedings

“…Usually municipalities create social media accounts, but do not use them to the full potential. The main reasons of creation of social media accounts in municipalities in Sweden is promoting municipality, provide citizens with fast and easily accessible information, increase democracy and build extensive network (Norstrom, Hattinger, 2016).…”

Qualitative and Critical Research in Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction: Divergent and Convergent Paths

“…The challenge to fully grasp the organizational and practical effects of new technologies on work practices is as vital as it ever was (Baptista et al, 2017;Forman et al, 2014;de Reuver et al, 2018). The rise of social media in the public sector has a major impact on the work practice of public-sector professionals (Norström et al, 2017;Norström and Hattinger, 2016). This is especially obvious in healthcare where the concept of a "market" for services remains a novelty.…”

Boundaries of Logics in Municipality Communicators’ Facebook Practice: Towards a New Public Service Competence

“…The new practices expand and blur the boundaries of the organization [6][7][8], challenge established interactions and relations with citizens [8,9], and shape public administrators' standpoints and activities regarding government's mission [4,10]. Communicators in public administration are a group of administrators particularly affected by this change [5,11,12]. Due to the current pervasiveness of social media in government and in society, the role of government communicators increasingly involves being the main gatekeepers of citizens' contact with the government, and to uphold a promotional "shop window" to the surrounding society.…”

“…This balancing act means being accountable, responsive and lawful bureaucrats, and simultaneously acting as personal, promoting and efficient partners [4,25]. The practice of the communicators is typically characterized by tensions between what is possible to do with social media platform logic in relation to the mission of the government and to citizens' wishes, and what is allowable within the frames of digital government logics [4,11,25]. As a consequence, there is a lack of established working procedures that individual workers and public agencies can adapt to [13].…”