Which Facebook Posts Generate More Citizen Interaction in Local Government?

What is it about?

This chapter examines how different types and categories of Facebook posts affect citizen interaction with local governments. It focuses on metropolitan and provincial municipalities in the Marmara Region of Turkey and analyzes 2,053 Facebook posts shared in May 2017. The study classifies posts by type, such as photo, video, link, status, and event, and by content category, such as public services, events and organizations, mayoral promotion, daily life, and official documents. It then tests whether these post characteristics are associated with different levels of citizen interaction. The findings show that both post type and post category matter. Link-type posts generated the highest interaction, followed by videos and photos. In terms of content, posts about important official and religious days had the highest interaction, followed by posts promoting the mayor.

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Local governments often use social media to inform citizens, promote services, and communicate with the public. However, not every post generates the same level of interaction. This chapter shows that the format and content of social media posts can shape how citizens respond. The findings are useful because they suggest that municipalities should not treat social media as a simple broadcasting tool. Instead, they need to understand which kinds of posts citizens are more likely to react to, comment on, or share. The chapter also highlights a mismatch between municipal posting behavior and citizen interaction. Municipalities mostly shared photo posts and event-related content, but these were not always the categories that generated the highest interaction. This points to the need for more evidence-based social media strategies in local government.

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