Government Communication Strategies Through Social Media During 'COVID-19' Pandemic

Abstract

The emerging Coronavirus 'COVID-19' pandemic impact the performance and communication practices of governments around the world. The pandemic imposed a new reality, as all government sectors witnessed a complete transformation in the work systems and practices in a way that the world had never seen before. Because of social distancing, changing lifestyle and quality of life, and adopting a remote work system, the importance of using communication and information technology (ICT), especially social networks and smart applications, has increased in communicating with different stakeholders and accomplishing various tasks and goals. Therefore, governments shift towards the digital era with all their tools and apply them effectively to achieve the strategic goals and serve the state's vision through its governmental institutions in various fields. In this context, various government institutions in the UAE, including police institutions, have relied on social media and digital communication platforms, in their response to this pandemic. Recently, the police institutions rely on social media networks as a basic communication tool due to its effectiveness in disseminating information quickly and easily, its interactivity with the target audience, its role in awareness during pandemic, its role in stop rumors, spreading the security culture, spreading the spirit of citizenship and belonging, and other goals of Government communication. From this standpoint, this study mainly aimed at analyzing government communication practices of the Ajman Police during the pandemic in its various stages, through its official account on Instagram. The study relied on the survey method, and uses a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the content of the official account during the period from (mid-February to mid-June 2020), as that period witnessed the initial wave of the pandemic. The results of the analytical study showed the effectiveness of the digital practices of the Ajman Police official account on "Instagram" through a diversity of goals, which were appropriate to the circumstances under the 'COVID–19' pandemic. The "Ajman Police" was keen to apply the social responsibility role towards the whole society through informative and advisory practices to raise public awareness to stop the dissemination of the pandemic. The posts also motivated its followers to use digital services through the smart application, by explaining how to use it with pictures and videos, additionally, the posts focused on reassuring the public by highlighting the Ajman Police capabilities and its excellent readiness in dealing with this pandemic. The researchers summarized many recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of government communication practices, especially in the security sector, including the following: Paying attention to studies and periodic reports on followers’ interaction through social media to take the appropriate communication decisions and to design appropriate policy and plan for publications on official account through social media. Finally, the researchers suggested six effective government communication concepts in their model, to enhance the government communication practices through social media networks, which consists of: (corporate identity, content management team, content management, interactivity, integration, continuous development).