Publication Date
6-14-2014
Document Type
Article
Abstract
In this paper, we explore a local government water department's adoption of social media to engage with citizens. Specifically, we describe the use of a Facebook page, created by the Organismo Operador Municipal del Sistema de Agua Potable, Alcantarillado, y Saneamiento (SAPAS) in La Paz, B.C. Mexico, during its initial eighteen months of operation. Based on an analysis of the page posts, we note an increase in total posts over the study period. The dominant type of post (SAPAS and citizens combined) was announcement and this type of post was unevenly distributed with peaks at the beginning and end of the study period. We also observed a notable increase in the number of complaints submitted by citizens towards the end of the study period with the highest number of complaints falling in August and October 2012. We conclude with some observations about our initial results and an update on the current status of SAPAS Facebook page.
Publication Title
Proceedings of the 15th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research
First Page
192
Last Page
195
DOI
10.1145/2612733.2612758
Open Access Status
OA Deposit
Recommended Citation
Basolo, Victoria and Yerena, Anaid, "The Use of Social Media for Citizen Engagement: the Case of SAPAS in La Paz, Mexico" (2014). Urban Studies Publications. 48.
https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/urban_pub/48
