Mengyan Dai, Wu He, Xin Tian, Ashley Giraldi and Feng Gu
American police departments are beginning to implement social media as a strategy to engage the surrounding communities through various methods, including Facebook and Twitter…
Abstract
Purpose
American police departments are beginning to implement social media as a strategy to engage the surrounding communities through various methods, including Facebook and Twitter. The purpose of this paper is to examine the varieties in the use of Facebook and Twitter by local police departments.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected all data between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014 from Facebook and Twitter accounts of seven city police departments in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. These agencies resemble many police departments in the USA, and in total serve a diverse population of approximately 1,435,000. Content analysis and statistical tests are conducted.
Findings
Results show that specific types of posts are more engaging for the community. Facebook and Twitter interactions vary depending upon the type of posts, demonstrating that citizens are using Facebook and Twitter to interact in different ways.
Research limitations/implications
The findings presented here give police agencies’ insight on how to appropriately adjust their use of social media to fulfill the needs of the citizens and optimize interactions with the community.
Originality/value
This is the first study to systematically examine and analyze the varieties in the use of social media by traditional American local police departments and their interactions with citizens.
Details
Keywords
Ashley Cartwright and Chloe Shaw
Social media is an integral part of modern society and is used by billions of people worldwide. In a policing context, police services are starting to use social media platforms…
Abstract
Purpose
Social media is an integral part of modern society and is used by billions of people worldwide. In a policing context, police services are starting to use social media platforms to interact with their communities. However, academic literature is lagging regarding the effectiveness of police use of social media. The purpose of this study is to gather public perceptions regarding the police’s use of social media particularly the use of Facebook.
Design/methodology/approach
The study administered a cross sectional survey recruiting participants who are policed by one of the larger police services in England and Wales. A total of 294 respondents completed the survey providing their views on their police service’s use of social media.
Findings
The results of the present study provide overwhelming support for the police’s use of social media by the public, with most respondents actively following their local police service’s social media accounts. The study additionally provides a number of important findings in relation to the preferences of the public with regards to their police service’s use of Facebook.
Practical implications
The findings presented here provide police services with an insight into how to implement an evidenced-based approach to their social media activity.
Originality/value
The present study takes an alternative approach to understanding the effectiveness of police social media use by simply asking residents, an approach not used in this area of policing research to date.