The Utilisation Of the Facebook Social Media Platform to Communicate with The Public on Governance and Service Delivery Matters

• Pages: 199-216
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Lakela Kaunda,Ricky M Mukonza

Special Issue

December, 2021

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

258

The Utilisation Of the Facebook Social Media Platform to Communicate with

The Public on Governance and Service Delivery Maers

Lakela Kaunda and Ricky M Mukonza

Tshwane University of Technology

Abstract

The paper explores the usage of Facebook as an interactive platform by the eight metropolitan

municipalities to inform citizens and to engage them on governance and day to day service

delivery issues during the COVID-19 pandemic which limits face to face public participation.

The e-government framework as well as public participation and social media theories form

the theoretical backdrop of the qualitative study. A survey of the ocial Facebook pages of the

eight metropolitan municipalities has been undertaken informed by the United Nations three-

point e-participation survey scale. A content analysis is undertaken of the information posted

on the pages by the municipality, the responses and comments of the followers or users of the

page as well as the response of the municipality to the comments of the users. Conclusion is

drawn on the manner in which the municipalities utilise the Facebook pages to communicate

with citizens, which is unidirectional. Lessons are gleaned on the need for more interactive

and eective usage of Facebook for two-way engagement or electronic public participation

(e-participation) with the public.

Keywords: e-government, e-participation, e-service delivery, public participation, social

media

Introduction

Local government is described as the sphere that is closest to the people. Municipalities

provide basic services that people utilise daily. These include water, electricity, refuse

removal, working street lights, cuing grass on the verges of roads, road maintenance

as well as promoting local economic development and job creation. The Constitution

of the Republic (1996), the White Paper on Local Government 1998 and the Local

Government: Municipal Systems Act direct municipalities to create conditions for the

local communities to participate in the work of municipalities and in decision making

processes. Municipalities are obliged by law to undertake these responsibilities in

consultation with the people. Public participation is thus the cornerstone of the

country’s local government system. Members of the public are able to participate

through formal structures such as ward commiee meetings and public meetings.

Given the advent and growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs)

and the adoption of e-government mechanisms by government, the public is able

to access services digitally and to communicate with government through online

and social media tools. Social media has brought along a powerful capability of

being an interactive social engagement tool. Government can thus engage in two-

way communication with citizens in real time without waiting for a long time for

responses. Social media can thus enhance e-participation and make engagement

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

Special Issue

December, 2021

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

259

between government and the people possible even during times of the COVID-19

pandemic which has restricted the halting of face to face meetings for a long time.

This article explores the usage of social media, in particular Facebook platform by

the eight metropolitan municipalities to engage in two-way communication with

the public. The qualitative research approach has been utilised in the study by

scrutinising the content of the Facebook pages of the municipalities. The United

Nations e-participation survey three-point scale as a yardstick (Le Blanc, 2020) has

been used a guide in assessing the government usage of the Facebook pages. This

tool is used to distinguish between the provision of information, consultation and

decision-making in e-participation engagements on the side of governments. It has

been found that municipalities use the f‌irst part of the scale in their communication

eorts. They share information on the Facebook pages but do not consult or involve

the public in decision making using the platform. They also do not interact and

engage the users on the pages on an ongoing basis, which defeats the purpose of

e-participation in particular and public participation in general.

The social media landscape

New trends have come to the fore in the communication arena over the years. Internet

or computer based media are becoming part of mainstream tools used by governments

to communicate with the public. Internet-based media includes portal websites, video

sites, search engines, social media, online games and electronic commerce as well as

media based on handsets being def‌ined as mobile media (Luo & Harrison, 2015).

Social media generally refers to the computer-based and internet based technology

that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through the building of

virtual networks and communities (Dollarhide, 2020). The social media networking

sites referred to in the literature include Facebook, Twier and WhatsApp. In terms

of uses, Facebook allows users to create their own prof‌iles on which they can upload

pictures and videos as well as share messages, Twier enables users to tweet short

messages on their walls which aracts comments from other users while WhatsApp

is a mobile social network which allows the sharing of information, pictures, videos,

voice notes and other vital messages (Apuke, 2016). People communicate and share

information 24 hours a day in an interactive manner, and anyone can create content

for social media and share it as and when they want to do so (Jordaan, 2019).

The Social Media Engagement Theory interrogates the interactive and engagement

feature of the social media. The theory presents that social media represents a new

business model as users generate content with other users and they can modify,

share and re-use the content regardless of the original intention of the creator (Di

Gangi & Wasko, 2016). Users benef‌it from socially interacting with other users

while organisations providing the social media platform gain a captive audience for

advertising and business intelligence. For business, the two-way process is benef‌icial

as users engage and provide their views on products (O’Brien, 2018). The impact of

social media usage is assessed through Social Media Analytics tools which indicate

how users engaged with content that was posted on a social media platform, for