Municipalities and Their Use of Social Media as Communication Tools: An Overview of Some Current Practices in the Aveiro Region In Portugal

Abstract

Social media has gradually evolved into a phenomenon that transcends its purely technical nature and has become an almost ubiquitous part of the communication activities of our modern society, playing an essential role in numerous sectors, such as public administration, where its potential as a communication tool has helped local authorities to develop agile and easily accessible communication channels with their communities. Traditional communication strategies using leaflets, local television, newspaper and radio advertising, and even the authorities' institutional website are being replaced by more engaging communication strategies based on social media. The research presented in this paper took up the challenge of mapping and analysing during a short period the online presence of the 11 municipalities of the Intermunicipal Community of the Region of Aveiro (CIRA) in Portugal in terms of their use of social media as tools for communicating with their constituents and others living in the region. The information collected focused on the municipalities' activities on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Particular attention was paid to consistency and coherence of communication, engagement, and shared content. An empirical study was conducted based on quantitative information collected over 30 days through a web-based web analytics tool, with further review of some of the data collected by the researchers directly from each municipality's social media profile. The results show that municipalities are engaged in developing communication strategies and activities on social media, providing audiovisual content is becoming more critical, and followers are more engaged with audiovisual content and issues less related to political and administrative matters. The information gathered shows that followers are more engaged with content about cultural and sports-related news and that there is still room for improving the use of YouTube for sharing information about each municipality. The results also suggest municipalities can improve their current practices by developing their communication team's new communication design skills. These conclusions have already been shared with decision-makers to help them improve current practices and design future communication strategies based on concepts linked to new media and transmedia experiences.