The effect of Covid-19 epidemic on social network use in Slovenian municipalities

Vključenost državljanov v politične procese je temelj demokracije, z razvojem tehnologij in spleta pa je ta možnost postala še bolj dostopna. Pri tem še posebej izstopajo družbena omrežja, ki v primerjavi s spletnimi stranmi omogočajo dvosmerno komunikacijo med oblastmi in prebivalci. Oblasti lahko namreč na preprost način delijo informacije o relevantnih dogodkih in storitvah na platformah, kjer so prebivalci že prisotni in aktivni, ti pa se lahko nato na različne načine odzovejo, podajo svoje mnenje in se vključijo v razpravo. Potem ko je svet leta 2020 zaznamovala pandemija novega koronavirusa, se je večji del vsakdanjega življenja zaradi ukrepov za zajezitev širjenja okužb preselil na splet, družbena omrežja pa so postala eden ključnih virov informacij. Magistrsko delo je posvečeno uporabi družbenih omrežij s strani organov lokalne samouprave. Analizirali smo družbena omrežja Facebook, Instagram in Twitter, ki so tudi najbolj priljubljene platforme v Sloveniji, v vseh 212 slovenskih občinah. Zanimalo nas je predvsem, na kakšen način je epidemija vplivala na uporabo teh spletnih omrežij v tem dotičnem delu javnega sektorja ter na kakšen način so občine prek njih komunicirale s prebivalci. Rezultati analize so pokazali, da se trend uporabe družbenih omrežij v slovenskih občinah sicer zvišuje, a so ta večinoma zgolj dodaten kanal za distribucijo informacij oziroma enosmerno komunikacijo.Political participation is the cornerstone of democracy and with the development of technology, this goal became even more accessible. From this angle, social networks stand out in particular, since in comparison with the established use of websites they also enable a two-way communication between the government and the governed. The governments can share information on relevant events and services, while the citizens can respond in various ways, share their opinions and participate in discussions. After the world-as-we-knew-it got shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, a big part of everyday life migrated online due to the restrictions to prevent the spread of infections, making social networks one of the main information sources. This thesis is dedicated to the analysis of social media use in local governments. The analysis of all 212 Slovenian municipalities was conducted on the most popular social networks in Slovenia - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The focus of the research was to determine if and how the epidemic affected the use of social media in Slovenian municipalities and how they used these online platforms to communicate with their citizens. The results showed that the trend of social networks use is indeed increasing in municipalities, however they still mainly use it only for the distribution of messages and one-way communication