Socialising governance

Research in the International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management suggests that governments hoping to maintain or even improve public trust in an increasingly digital society must move away from conventional one-way communication, such as leafleting and the party political broadcast, and adopt more effectively modern forms of engagement, such as social media.

The study finds an important issue that stymies effective modern government: accountability is vital to democracy, but standard communication models do not allow citizens to easily participate. Given the advent of social media over the last two decades, there is an increasing need for governments to adopt this two-way form of communication. In doing so, citizens will be able to respond directly to official messages, ask questions, raise concerns, and in turn expect a timely response from public authorities. Given time, this approach to communication between government and governed might improve public sentiment, especially in turbulent times and in times of political upheaval.

Social media, the researchers suggest, could enhance transparency, making government actions and decisions more open to public scrutiny. This, in turn should reduce corruption, favouritism, and nepotism by exposing public services. This openness would, hopefully, improve the public perception of service quality and boost trust where it is due. Conversely, it should allow the public to more readily call to account unscrupulous politicians and, indeed, anyone in governmental office.

Unfortunately, social media works with social rules that are very different from the traditional public communication rules, as one might expect. There is an expectation of immediacy, responsiveness, and ongoing dialogue. As such, governments would be obliged to familiarise themselves fully with those rules of the online world and to ensure that interactions are monitored in real time and responses are timely and relevant.

Alafwan, B., Siallagan. M. and Putro, U.S. (2026) ‘A FAIR measurement of governments’ social media’, Int. J. Public Sector Performance Management, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp.311-332.