Social media use in government health agencies: The COVID-19 impact

Digital government transformation as an organizational response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Many public organizations struggle to adapt to digital transformation. Whereas previous research has identified internal drivers of change, an unpredictable factor from the external environment such as the COVID-19 pandemic can trigger public innovation. In this study, we aim to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the digital government transformation. First, we explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected different organizational aspects that are expected to be affected by a digital transformation. Second, we explore if and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the digital government transformation. Findings from case studies of ten organizations from the Austrian federal administration indicate that the pandemic has not only led to an increased use of technological means but also influenced various organizational aspects such as employees' attitudes toward technology and organizational culture toward innovation. In particular, organizations heavily affected by the pandemic have benefited from a greater degree of digital transformation. Consequently, the pandemic has influenced a spirit of innovation and accelerated the speed of digital transformation.

Public Engagement with Romanian Government Social Media Accounts during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Following international best practice examples, the Romanian government resorted to its social media accounts to disseminate information and unfold an awareness and persuasion campaign to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The article focuses on the use of the government's YouTube and Facebook accounts to persuade the population to get vaccinated in 2021 via video messages tailored for this purpose. The research quantified the volume of public engagement with the two waves of the persuasive campaign, finding that, while click-based reactions tended to show a positive attitude toward the campaign, the comments mainly denoted frustration, anger, and anxiety on the part of the public. Moreover, the citizens' engagement with the campaign messages was by far lower than the number of subscribers and followers of the analyzed social media accounts. The goal of the COVID-19 public health persuasion campaign was to build support for the governmental policy and minimize the risks of the pandemic while vaccination was being rolled out. The public reaction to the governmental campaign showed that a finer and more adapted approach was necessary. This study offers a qualitative basis for informing health communication strategies of the challenges posed by social media platforms used in crisis times.

Digital discretion and public administration in Africa: Implications for the use of artificial intelligence

African public administrations are in an especially difficult position with respect to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), in both how they harness its benefits but also in managing potential harms. Through a narrative review of existing research, this paper synthesises findings from previous digital government implementations on the African continent, and considers the implications for AI use. The analysis is centred on the way public officials are bypassed or empowered to work with emerging technologies, and the influence of public service values on their adoption. Four concerns emerge as relevant: Integrity of recommendations provided by decision-support systems, including how they are influenced by local organisational practices and the reliability of underlying infrastructures; Inclusive decision-making that balances the (assumed) objectivity of data-driven algorithms and the influence of different stakeholder groups; Exception and accountability in how digital and AI platforms are funded, developed, implemented and used; and an expectation of Complete understanding of people and events through the integration of traditionally dispersed data sources and systems, and how policy actors seek to mitigate the risks associated with this aspiration.

A Review of Social Media Website Users’ Interaction Paths with Governmental Accounts during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aims to describe and analyze the paths of social media website users’ interaction with the content of government accounts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of the study are to describe the roles of government accounts as a tool to support the concept of health communication among users of social media websites and analyze the targeted and untargeted roles that have emerged in this context, describe the roles of government accounts as a tool of government communication and analyze how government institutions employed them during the COVID-19 pandemic, and describe the roles of social media websites as a tool to address the problems and challenges created by the social spacing procedures and solutions provided by these websites to deal with these challenges. This study surveys a sample of previous studies conducted on the roles of government accounts on social media websites during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tools of this study are both analytical and comparative as they analyze and compare the results of previous studies on the interaction paths of internet users. The results indicate that social media websites have been considered a pivotal tool for building a renewable and interactive system. This coincides with developments in the communication environment in which the individual is present within the social pattern, and its depth of impact has been demonstrated, particularly after the repercussions of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.