TRACK 6: Social Media and Government
Track Chairs: Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan (Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico, Mexico), J. Ignacio Criado (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) and Loni Hagen (University of South Florida, USA)
The implications of social media and government are evolving with the evolution of technologies and advances in the field. As it has been experienced during the last years, this area of digital government research is one of the most dynamic as new platforms, metrics, audiences, uses, or impacts emerge almost every year. Recently, we have learned that opportunities for innovation and potential challenges emerge from the last evolutions of social media and government. Here, issues regarding TikTok or virtual reality, among other social platforms and areas, have abruptly emerged as a global players in the entertainment sector, promoting government and other actors to engage with new audiences. Finally, new political challenges, including the polarization of the public sphere, raise concerns about the potential harm of social media for our democratic communities. For this year’s theme, we especially will welcome papers related to safe and secure cross-border services and collaboration through social media platforms. In addition, we are open to other aspects of governments’ service delivery and social media, including theoretical and conceptual advancements, methodological and data innovations, or case and practical implications coming from diverse contexts. We will welcome papers on both traditional and emerging issues, including opportunities, risks, and policies in public services delivery in cross-national contexts, social media motivations to use and audiences, political mobilizations and polarization, social media contents and sentiment analysis, fake news, artificial intelligence and algorithms-based systems and virtual agents in government, instant messaging apps in government, entertainment platforms for political engagement, or social media for crisis and emergency management. Also, we will continue working on including exciting research questions, rigorous empirical studies, and in-depth case studies to enrich the theories, research methods, data, and available cases and practical applications in this research area.
