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Facebook Content Strategies and Citizens’ Online Engagement: The Case of Greek Local Governments

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  • Georgios Lappas

    (Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences)

  • Amalia Triantafillidou

    (Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences)

  • Anastasia Deligiaouri

    (Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences)

  • Alexandros Kleftodimos

    (Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the communication strategies used by Greek local governments through the utilization of Web 2.0 technologies, specifically Facebook, and the effectiveness of these strategies in relation to citizens’ online engagement. More specifically, it examines Facebook communication strategies and levels of citizens’ engagement. For this purpose, we conducted a content analysis on the active and official Facebook pages of local municipalities in Greece from January 2017 until the end of September 2017. Our results suggest a rise in the percentage of active Facebook pages maintained by local governments in comparison to our 2014 study. Our results also show that local governments in Greece are using Facebook in a predominantly top-down manner to promote events organized by the municipality and to push one-way information to citizens about their services and actions. Local authorities have, however, made significant progress in relation to posts that support transparency and accountability and that enhance or mobilize citizens’ participation. Our evaluation of local government Facebook strategies indicates that marketing the municipality to external public, such as tourists, and providing information about services are effective strategies that drive citizens’ online attitude expression (liking), engagement (commenting), and advocacy behavior (sharing). According to our analysis, local governments in Greece prefer the strategies that we found to be the least engaging. In addition, our study provides interesting details of how specific characteristics and modes of Facebook messages (photos, videos, URLs, hashtags, and mentions) impact on citizens’ engagement. Finally, our results provide valuable insights for social media managers in local government who aim to increase the impact of their municipal Facebook pages.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgios Lappas & Amalia Triantafillidou & Anastasia Deligiaouri & Alexandros Kleftodimos, 2018. "Facebook Content Strategies and Citizens’ Online Engagement: The Case of Greek Local Governments," The Review of Socionetwork Strategies, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:trosos:v:12:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s12626-018-0017-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s12626-018-0017-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rajagopal, 2014. "The Human Factors," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Architecting Enterprise, chapter 9, pages 225-249, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Michael J. Magro, 2012. "A Review of Social Media Use in E-Government," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-14, April.
    3. Benedetta Gesuele & Concetta Metallo & Rocco Agrifoglio, 2016. "What Do Local Governments Discuss in Social Media? An Empirical Analysis of the Italian Municipalities," Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organization, in: Fabrizio D'Ascenzo & Massimo Magni & Alessandra Lazazzara & Stefano Za (ed.), Blurring the Boundaries Through Digital Innovation, pages 297-306, Springer.
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    1. Siyam, Nur & Alqaryouti, Omar & Abdallah, Sherief, 2020. "Mining government tweets to identify and predict citizens engagement," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. Annika Miller & Stefan Heiland, 2021. "#ProtectNature—How Characteristics of Nature Conservation Posts Impact User Engagement on Facebook and Twitter," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-13, November.
    3. Priporas, Constantinos-Vasilios & Stylos, Nikolaos & Kamenidou, Irene (Eirini), 2020. "City image, city brand personality and generation Z residents' life satisfaction under economic crisis: Predictors of city-related social media engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 453-463.

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