| Abstract [eng] |
The Master's work examines the usage of social networks to engage citizens in the decision-making process. The work consists of three parts. More efficient engagement of citizens can be achieved through social networks. The support of social networks can be determined by the intensity of political participation and the engagement of citizens on the Internet, while forming and maintaining the accumulated social capital. Social networks provide an opportunity to speed up and facilitate the connection between local self-government institutions and society. The social networks play an important role in public governance, especially in its communication processes, as they change the usual methods of communication and dissemination of information. It becomes easier and quicker to publish political content, to get feedback, to form an opinion. Social networks can be used in the decision-making process at different stages in order to involve citizens, as the target audience is easier accessible. A qualitative study strategy was chosen for the research, but it was used to fill it with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. It is intended to examine the use of social networks for the engagement of citizens in the decision-making process in the case of the Šiauliai City Municipality. The method of analysis of scientific literature helped to provide a theoretical justification for the study. The method of the documents’ content analysis revealed the engagement of social networks in the decision-making process in the municipality of Šiauliai City. The partly structured interview method explains who and how municipal representatives use social networks and how they appreciate the engagement of citizens through them. The content analysis of Facebook posts identifies the use and use of social networks’ accounts and their content in the case of the Šiauliai City Municipality itself and its representatives. The results of the survey have shown that the municipality is actively using the new technologies to publicise information. The main tools to publicise the activities are the municipality’s website, Youtube channel and Facebook account. However, too little attention is given for the municipality’s Facebook account data, functions and their exploitation – this is shown by the very limited data in the municipal activity reports. It can be argued that social networks still play a purely informative role. To sum up the results of the survey of the opinion of the municipal representatives, it is noted that social networks are too little used for the targeted engagement of citizens in the decision-making process. Members of the Council actively use personal social networks to receive citizens’ views and feedback, but they do not notice a direct engagement in decision-making on the current content of the municipality’s Facebook (citizens are attempted to include only by the presentation of the information and believing that citizens will participate actively). The content analysis of the Facebook account records revealed that appointments are used to publicise information and identity. Thus, the results of the study obtained by various methods confirmed that the engagement of citizens in the decision-making process in municipalities is fueled by social networks, i.e., the reason for the engagement is only implied, it is the expected result of the publication of information. |
