Facebook administration : A qualitative study of how three municipalities in Värmland use social media in their e- administration

With the rise of the internet especially and information- and communication technology in general, the opportunities for fast and effective communication and sharing of information have proliferated. In relation to the new technologies, the citizens’ demands on organizations’ communicative efforts have increased. Today’s citizens have high standards regarding transparency, the opportunity to dialogue and have hopes to influence the public sector. With the development of social media in society new opportunities have therefore been created for the ways in which public sector organizations can and should relate to their residents. Today’s municipalities must address citizen demands and needs to communicate on their terms, which has led to a situation where a number of municipalities around the country are using social media in their e- government. That social media are used in municipal e- dialogue with residents is however a new phenomenon. There is therefore no official guidelines from the parliament regarding how social media should be used for successful communication or dialogue with citizens, and this circumstance has created some difficulties for how the local governments should use the new technology effectively. The purpose of the studie is to examine how three communes in Värmland have used social media in their e- government. To be able to perform the study, representatives from Forshaga, Hammarö and Karlstad commune have been interviewed. Theories about e- governance, e- democracy, internet, social media, publicity laws, citizen as customers and public organizations changes and possibilities in society have been used to analyze the results from the interviews. The study shows that local governments find that work with social media is primarily positive, but that there are also disadvantages and difficulties. Tips from the government have been used even if local modifications sometimes are needed and the reason that social media is used are the communes endeavor on interactivity and fast citizen dialogue. In the future, the municipalities will be required to try to work more efficiently with the new technologies in demand for a greater transparency, which is considered important