Facebook and Twitter utility for policymakers

Social media provides government policy makers with access to citizen attitudes, opinions and positions on issues. Social media holds publicly available information that can help policy developers to better understand how the public feel about policy problems, solutions to policy gaps, lived experiences and values associated with policies, as well as, better articulation of the ‘real’ problem. This study examines the utility of aspects of Active/Passive models of citizen sourcing for policy makers. To assess this we offer a conceptual model based on Appraisal theory. Results indicated little utility difference between actively and passively gathered data. Facebook is generally more useful for policy makers, as it yielded better data concerning values, lived experiences and problem definition, and clearer articulation of solutions through dialogic language. The implication for policy makers is that while Twitter can identify emotive responses, Facebook offers deeper insights and more nuanced understanding of the community