A comunicação pública digital da Câmara Municipal de Itapevi no Facebook e as possibilidades de letramento político / The digital public communication of the Municipality of Itapevi on Facebook and the possibilities of political literacy

Abstract

The following study seeks to understand how the Facebook page of the City Council of Itapevi, Brazil, made political literacy possible through political education, discussions on the political agenda, and mobilization in its communication on the social network. The corpus of the analysis brings together 683 publications made in 2019, a period in which the page showed an increase in audience compared to the previous year (2018). The quantitative research, though with a qualitative look, identified posts that made political knowledge possible to the citizen, as well as interviews to understand the use of the social network by the institution. An appropriate analysis to understand the use of the network by the public body, since the latest survey by DataSenado shows that 74% of Brazilians have or have had a social network - Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, or Twitter. A significant number, especially when compared to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), from 2019, indicates that two-thirds of the country's population (69.8%) have an internet connection. These numbers drive the research of communicologists and political scientists, who seek to understand how this communication network is being part of people's daily lives. Mainly taking into account that the internet, and especially social networks, are becoming a space where different people connect, share content and participate in the political debate a few clicks away. The internet's expansion in Brazil and the number of people connected to networks made different public bodies create profiles on social networks to interact with people. A new channel that aims to establish a rapprochement with this digital audience, ensure transparency in management and encourage the participation of everyone in the decision-making process. As occurred at the City Council of Itapevi (CMI, in Portuguese). However, to guarantee a minimum of success in this digital endeavor, the information available on the networks must be of public interest and its content must be accessible, allowing citizens to understand how public authorities work and to know the process of choosing representatives. A knowledge that can be shared with the citizen through political literacy, as highlighted by Cosson (2016: 51): “these are knowledge related to the functioning of the State, with an emphasis on democratic mechanisms, which involves, on one hand, a knowledge about elections, parties and institutions, and on the other hand, the rights and duties of the citizen”. Therefore, the article was divided into four parts, in addition to the final considerations. The first seeks to clarify the difference between public and political communication; the second addresses how Facebook has supported CMI's communication strategy. Furthermore, there is a literature review on political literacy. Finally, the objective of this study: an analysis of the possibility of political literacy through publications made on the CMI profile on Facebook, in 2019, which concludes that the page is a virtual space for debate and public expression in the city, with growth potential for the promotion of citizenship and political knowledge. The study is based on publications in the areas of public communication (Matos, 2000; Marques, 2009; Correia, 2010), social networks (Recuero, 2009; Ferrari, 2004, Silva, 2020), and political literacy (Cosson, 2020; Biesta, 2009).