How to Promote Public Engagement and Enhance Sentiment Through Government Social Media During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Public Value Management Perspective

Introduction

Social media has become an indispensable tool for public access to information and government work. According to the 49^th China Statistical Report on Internet Development, by December 2021, the number of Chinese internet users reached 1.032 billion. In addition, the number of Weibo accounts of Chinese government agencies certified by Sina Weibo is 177,437. Government agencies can use social media to disseminate information, communicate with public and survey public opinion, especially as a system to quickly distribute information in times of crisis (Graham, 2015; Zhang et al. 2021). Government agencies are increasingly using social media to establish contact with the public and encourage the public to participate in government social media in order to eliminate information asymmetry and enhance public sentiment (Meltzer et al., 2018; Barberá, et al. 2019). For example, Li et al. (2020) studied how the government used social media to alleviate the information asymmetry problem in the crisis response process during COVID-19, and showed that through social media platforms, the government can not only solve the problem of information overload, but also it can alleviate the contradictions between governments at all levels. Baniamin (2021) used network analysis technology to analyze the different groups of Bangladeshi people on Face-book and found that people are trying to use social media to solve various information asymmetry problems, realize connections and solve needs. Hong et al. (2021) studied the health information sharing behavior of WeChat users and found that social capital and gratification are the key determinants of health information sharing. Yuniarto et al. (2021) found that the government can suppress the spread of the virus by using social media to disseminate scientific information related to COVID-19 to the public.

Public engagement refers to public participate in public affairs, aimed at establishing a trust relationship that goes beyond simple information exchange (Chen & Min et al., 2020; Di et al., 2016). Public engagement in a crisis period can not only reduce public panic, fear and anxiety, but also improve the ability of government agencies to handle crisis information and provide public services (Chatfield & Reddick, 2018). The benefits of mutual trust and interaction between government agencies and the public are obvious (Díaz-Díaz, et al. 2016). However, the public's willingness and status quo to participate in government social media are currently not good. For example, Parker et al. (2018) studied the role of social media in the field of public value and found that the public usually has five types of communication, such as antagonistic, critical, affirming, action-oriented, and indoctrinating. Su et al. (2021) also pointed out that during the COVID-19, if social media information is not properly disseminated, it will cause public mental health problems.

The government is not optimistic about promoting public engagement and raising public sentiment through social media. The main reason is that most government agencies still view social media as a supplementary channel for disseminating information, rather than as a tool to promote public engagement (Neely & Collins, 2018; Wukich, 2016). Secondly, the two-way interaction and communication between the government and the public is inadequate, most of the interaction is public shares and likes, and the comment interaction is not enough (Tang et al., 2015). Finally, the government agencies may encounter a series of problems, risks, and challenges when they use social media in their work, such as the digital divide, privacy, and security (Carlson et al., 2016; Elbanna et al., 2019).