Balancing act: How do local governments use social media in crises?

Abstract

Governments can benefit from social media usage in crisis management, but the amplified public scrutiny facilitated by social media may also impede crisis management and damage reputations. How governments balance such benefits and risks when using social media for crisis communication remains an open question. With a data set of epidemic statistics and social media posts of local governments across China during the first wave of COVID-19, we quantitatively investigate how the local crisis situations and coping resources influenced government usage of social media. Our analysis reveals that the first confirmed case in a city leads to a significant increase in government social media use. This effect is stronger in cities with more medical resources. In addition, the number of cumulative cases has an inverted U-shaped influence on government social media use. These findings suggest that governments value the importance of social media for crisis handling and reputation protection, adapting their communication strategies based on the crisis severity and their own capacities.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

Replication data and code can be found at doi: 10.17632/z8nt2swzx5.3.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 72304065).

Notes on contributors

Zhe Deng

Zhe Deng ([email protected]) is a post-doctoral researcher in the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University. She received her PhD in management science and engineering at the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University. Her current research interests include government behavior and information management. She also is interested in environmental governance and climate policy.

Hanchen Jiang

Hanchen Jiang ([email protected]) is an associate professor in the School of Government, University of International Business and Economics. He received his PhD in management science and engineering at Tsinghua University. His research interests are digital government and crisis management.

Bo Fan

Bo Fan ([email protected]) is a professor in the School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research interests include e-government and emergency management. He has published in Government Information Quarterly, Decision Support Systems, European Journal of Operational Research, Information & Management, and so on.

Xiao Tang

Xiao Tang ([email protected]) is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University. He received his PhD in public administration at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University. His research interests include government behavior and bureaucracy. He also is interested in environmental governance and e-government.