Iranian Journal of Information Processing and Management

Iranian Journal of Information Processing and Management

Social Media and Policy Making How Can Social Media Intervene in Policymaking?

Author
Somayeh Labafi
Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc) ,Tehran, Iran
10.35050/JIPM010.2022.046
Abstract
The emergence of participatory social media has created a new ecosystem for the participation of users in social events (Fuchs, 2021).Content exchange by the user generates values such as a social discourse and awareness of a special subject triggering political, social, and other types of changes (Edom, Hwang & Kim, 2018).With tens of millions of active users, social media have turned into dynamic resources of people’s interests, needs, and beliefs, giving rise to a rich content reserve.This provides policymakers with a great opportunity to learn about citizens and communicate with them effectively (Simonofski & Burnay, 2021).Social media serve as a link between users and policymakers, serving as a novel source to involve users in formulating and enacting policies (Driss, Mellouli & Trabelsi, 2019).Policymakers need to know the users’ opinions because users post their opinions on social media with minimal supervision (Dekker, van Den Brink & Meijer, 2019).Users express their positive and negative opinions on various issues on social platforms, providing policymakers with a unique opportunity to improve communication with citizens and learn about their needs and opinions (De Paula, Dincelli & Harrison, 2018).
Keywords
Social Media
Policy Making. Evidence based policy
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Iranian Journal of Information Processing and Management
Volume 38, SPECIAL ISSUE
Autumn 2022
Pages 1-4

  • Receive Date 28 January 2023