What is the role of social media in UK local government communications?

The public sector communications environment has typically been characterised by Grunig and Hunt’s public information model (1984), where the priority has been one-way dissemination of information to the organisation’s publics.

The development of social media tools, such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, image and video sharing services, over the past five years presents a challenge to this characterisation.

Social media gives the opportunity for publics to communicate more frequently and more effectively with other members of the same public, other publics and with government bodies themselves.

This study aims to understand the extent of current use of social media in local government communications, consider the factors that encourage and discourage such use, and identify the main roles that social media should play in local government communications.

Simon Wakeman 2008