Capitalising on Twitter for Policy Learning during Crises: The Case of the Covid-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Drawing on a broader study on perceptions of time and well-being during Covid-19, we show how governments can use social media platforms, such as Twitter, to acquire knowledge for policy learning and design. We argue social knowledge, which includes personal storytelling, emotion, and use of hashtags and emojis, can contribute to policy learning. Using a qualitative approach, we examine citizens’ pandemic-related experiences, including changing work routines, mental health and self-care, sleep patterns, domestic violence, and feelings of solidarity. Such data could be useful to policymakers as they provide insights into the impact of the pandemic on citizens’ everyday lives.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy learning
• Twitter
• public administration
• time
• well-being
• Covid-19

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Melina Campos and Idan Edut for their research assistance on the project. We thank the Israeli Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Social Services team for their help and advice in identifying the words used to gather the data. We also thank the reviewers of the International Journal of Public Administration and the Editors for their helpful comments and suggestions concerning previous versions of this article. Dr. Lahat would like to thank the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies, Concordia University, for the time dedicated to this article. A first version was presented at the International Society for Quality-of-life Studies (ISQOLS) Conference, in August 2021.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Individual Partnership Engage Grants (PEG) COVID-19 Special Initiative. Grant number 1008-2020-1135 of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).