Use of Social Media in German Local Governments

Social media applications such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Weblogs, and Twitter have entered the world of politics in recent years. Politicians and parties make use of these instruments for publicity reasons but also for purposes of communication and coordination. Consequently, governments and public authorities have also started utilizing social media platforms and tools. It is, however, widely unknown why, how and to what end these applications are used in the public sector. The goals of the project are to show how widespread the use of social media is in local governments, how this changes over time and how the rationale and strategies for the use of social media are linked to the legitimacy of local governments. Empirically, the project is based on a survey of all German local governments that is being conducted in cooperation with Cassini Consulting and the Municipal Association for Administration Management (Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsmanagement - KGSt) in January and February 2016.

• Drüke, H., Krellmann, A., Scholz, S. and Veit, S., 2016. Studie: Wie nutzen Kommunen Social Media? Berlin, Köln, Kassel.
• Drüke, Hellmut, Krellmann, Anika, Scholz, Simon und Veit, Sylvia, 2016. Mehr Bürgernähe mit Social Media. eGovernment Computing 16 (11), 16.
• Drüke, Hellmut, Krellmann, Anika, Scholz, Simon und Veit, Sylvia, 2016. Online mitreden. Kommune 21 16 (12), 14-15.

• Veit, S. and Scholz, S., The Use of Social Media in German Local Governments. Presentation at the 24th World Congress of Political Science, Istanbul, 23-28 July 2016.

For further information, questions or remarks, please contact Prof. Dr. Sylvia Veit.

Team

• Dr. Helmut Drüke, Cassini Consulting
• Marc Groß, KGSt
• Anika Krellmann, KGSt
• Simon Scholz
• Prof. Dr. Sylvia Veit

Duration
November 2015 to January 2017