Social Media and e-Participation: Challenges of Social Media for Managing Public Projects

1. Introduction

Active participation by citizens constitutes the core of every democratic form of government (Arnstein, 1969; Creighton, 2005; Dahl, 2006; Pateman, 1975). Individuals are more likely to support realization of projects or the implementation of new regulations if they had been involved in the decision-making process (Potapchuk, 1996). Traditional modes of public participation include attending town meetings, which are often dominated by a small number of vocal and personally affected individuals who do not necessarily represent the opinion of the majority (Kingston et al., 2000). Such town meetings often restrict attendance to certain groups of citizens due to location and timing.