Preliminary communication

Quantitative Content Analysis of Communication Patterns on Facebook: A Case Study of the Croatian Government

Mato Brautović ; University of Dubrovnik, Department of Mass Communication, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Romana John ; PhD student at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Iva Milanović-Litre orcid.org/0000-0003-3789-4848 ; PhD student at the University of Osijek, Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Doctoral Study of Communication Science, Osijek, Croatia

Abstract

In the process of involving citizens more deeply in the democratic process, Facebook is becoming an increasingly important tool for governments in policy making. Facebook has the potential to increase political participation, but many governments fail to use it in the right way, because they just share information online and do not engage with their followers/citizens. This paper shows how the Croatian government is using Facebook and the communication patterns resulting from their work. The quantitative analysis of 20,546 posts and 52,311 comments show that communication is one way, rather than interactive. Government users do not follow the 90-9-1- rule of thumb for social networks.

Keywords

social media; Facebook; civic engagement; e-government; communication patterns

Hrčak ID:

118045

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/118045

Publication date:

17.12.2013.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 4.618 *