The Role and Impact of Social Media in E-Government

Introduction

The flow of new technologies and broad use of social media in recent years have altered the way people communicate with each other. However, the contribution of new technologies and social media to the transformation of public administration into new and open format can change the communication between governments and citizens as well.

At present, social networks and social media in general develop rapidly owing to their capacity to support broad social demand. In this sense, social media is deemed as a powerful tool based on network communications. It is a mutual communication tool between government and society which improves government transparency and facilitates the development of democratic society. It is to be noted that, the achievement of transparency in public administration can be obtained by referring to advanced information.

Social networks enable people to use networks easily; it is interactive and powerful as it facilitates the use of not only content, but also audio and video materials and is based on measures and goals for boosting this communication. Networks are largely used among private, public and non-government organizations. People wish to gather information easily and develop relationships. Interactive communication used in multimedia becomes an integral part of networks in exchange to the adoption of various approaches to the administration of government functions. It is the government’s decision whether to improve networks, to become an integral part of these networks or remain as a periphery. The conduction of everyday tasks and development of long-term goals jointly with citizens are considered as government’s roles. Multimedia is a powerful tools for applying information in text, as well as in visual and audio format. From this point of view, the investigation of the role of social media in public administration is considered as one of the topical research directions.

As of today, citizens utilize information and communication technologies (ICT) not only for professional purposes, but also in social lives, and analogically, they wish to communicate with governments in the same manner. Hence, the expectations of citizens regarding modern, open and effective government sector broaden. On the other hand, government bodies encountering austere economic measures and intensive budget control are forced to search for innovative tools. The growing tendency of the desire of citizens to establish more comfortable, impeccable and smooth communication with government alongside with this economic situation, as well as the demand for the access to more unbiased information give an impetus to government institutions to employ new digital technology and Web 2.0 tools. The latter would reduce financial difficulties and improve the quality of government services. In this sense, the exploration of the role of social media in shaping and effectively managing e-government is extremely topical.

The research shows that, the application of Web 2.0 technologies in e-government environment in recent years has shaped numerous topical research directions. The studies related to Web 2.0, social media, social networks and their use in government sector demonstrate that, the formation of social media and its role in public administration has become an elaborate research subject.

The literature review describes demonstrate that social media is an effective means for government to improve citizens’ trust in government by enhancing their perceptions of government transparency. In case of study has explored how citizens’ use of social media in government may lead them to have trust in government and by providing empirical evidence of the mediating role of perceived government transparency in linking the use of e-government to trust in government (Song, & Lee, 2016).