The local Police on Facebook : A quantitative study of the Police in Växjö and Alvesta and their "Likers"

The value of an organization’s availability and transparency towards the public whenever and wherever it is necessary has increased. Internet and the social networks have become essential to most of the citizens of Sweden but for organizations social networking still is an area that is relatively unexplored. As the Internet and social media progresses it becomes a greater part of people’s lives, which leads to more demands but also a great amount of possibilities for the organizations that participate in this technical revolution. The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine if and how the people receiving the information published on the Växjö and Alvesta police department’s Facebook-page are considering Facebook as a channel of communication. The study is based on survey responses from users Liking the Facebook page Polisen i Växjö/Alvesta. By analyzing our findings we discovered that although people where interested in taking part of the information they were not too eager to participate in the conversation by for example making comments, however the average reliance for the police had increased since the respondents started Liking the Facebook page. Facebook is a good place for citizens to connect with authorities such as the police, getting the information that they want faster and easier and making the organization more transparent to the audience