On a Municipality-Wide Scale. Social Media Use in Italian Municipalities: Information and Interaction

Resum

The contribution aims at investigating the role of social media in the Italian local governments in the «maturity models» scenario, between informative and interactive use of digital media. In particular, the paper presents the results of a pilot study on a little sample of Italian municipalities who usually adopt their Facebook profiles to communicate with citizens. Even if many empirical works are devoted to this issue, less attention is paid at the citizens’ needs and expectations in literature. The article has the purpose to provide a better understanding of citizens’ behaviors on institutional Fb’s pages with the wider purpose to explore what «information» and «interaction» mean in the specific relationship citizen- municipal in a digital environment.

As findings suggest, the information-based use of social media is necessary to improve citizens’ quality of life and their effective use of public services. Municipalities, exploiting their «proximity», have a pivotal role as «hub of information», through the integration and reconnection of information contents whether self-produced or produced by other stakeholders.