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Zhe Deng, Hanchen Jiang, Bo Fan, Xiao Tang | Balancing act: How do local governments use social media in crises?


来源:International Public Management Journal

作者:Zhe Deng, Hanchen Jiang (通讯作者), Bo Fan, Xiao Tang


江汉臣 | 对外经济贸易大学MILAN米兰体育·(中国)官方网站副教授


Abstract

Governments can benefit from social media usage in crisis management, but the amplified public scrutiny facilitated by social media may also impede crisis management and damage reputations. How governments balance such benefits and risks when using social media for crisis communication remains an open question. With a data set of epidemic statistics and social media posts of local governments across China during the first wave of COVID-19, we quantitatively investigate how the local crisis situations and coping resources influenced government usage of social media. Our analysis reveals that the first confirmed case in a city leads to a significant increase in government social media use. This effect is stronger in cities with more medical resources. In addition, the number of cumulative cases has an inverted U-shaped influence on government social media use. These findings suggest that governments value the importance of social media for crisis handling and reputation protection, adapting their communication strategies based on the crisis severity and their own capacities.


摘要:

政府在危机管理中能够受益于社交媒体的使用,但社交媒体带来的公众监督也可能阻碍危机管理并损害声誉。政府在危机沟通中如何平衡社交媒体使用的好处与风险,是一个有待探索的问题。基于中国地方政府在COVID-19第一波疫情期间的病例数据和官方社交媒体账号发文的数据集,我们定量研究了当地危机情况和应对资源如何影响政府社交媒体的使用。我们的分析显示,城市中出现首例确诊病例会显著增加政府的社交媒体使用,并且这一效果在医疗资源较多的城市更为明显。此外,累计病例数对政府社交媒体使用有倒U形影响。这些发现表明,政府重视社交媒体在危机应对和声誉保护中的重要性,并根据危机的严重程度和自身能力调整其沟通策略。


原文链接:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10967494.2024.2363221