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Exiled to Main Street: How government's use of social media diminishes public space
Author(s) -
Piccorelli Justin T.,
Stivers Camilla
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of public affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.221
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1479-1854
pISSN - 1472-3891
DOI - 10.1002/pa.1955
Subject(s) - politics , social media , public space , government (linguistics) , space (punctuation) , everyday life , democracy , sociology , key (lock) , public relations , public life , local government , media studies , political science , public administration , engineering , law , computer science , computer security , architectural engineering , linguistics , philosophy , operating system
Public administrators have long treated their connections with citizens as tools for efficiently achieving results. As Dwight Waldo once commented, their key political concern has been, “How much democracy can we afford?” Increasing use of social media technologies appears to expand citizen input at greatly reduced cost. On the basis of phenomenological investigation of virtual citizen–government relationships, we argue that the political consequences of social media have yet to be noticed fully. Social media exile citizens to Main Street—everyday life—instead of fostering connections in public space.