Social media engagement forms in government: A structure-content framework

This article presents a structure-content framework to characterize social media engagement between government and the public because related scholarship fails to adequately link the concepts. The term structure refers to the flow of information—or the direction of messages from one type of account to another (e.g., a government agency to the public or vice versa) and the extent to which they interact. The term content represents the messages' intended goals and meaning. This framework integrates both concepts, notably the communication modes model (an example of structure) with content categories such as transparency, symbolic presentation, customer service, coproduction, and citizen participation. Because it is more comprehensive than typologies focused on either concept alone, the article more thoroughly conveys the complexity of available engagement opportunities. Facebook data from Hurricane Florence exemplify the model and account for both routine and critical operating conditions.