Understanding Citizen Participation in Governmental Social Media: a Case Study of the Indonesian Regional Police

Governments increasingly leverage social media to deliver better services to the public. Web 2.0 technologies enable people to interact and collaborate with one another efficiently and effectively. The use of web 2.0 technologies by government – government 2.0 – enables citizen to interact and collaborate with government in the delivery of public services. This exploratory study examines the use of social media in Indonesia. The focus is on examining the potential of social media in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of public service delivery, and how social media might boost the relationship between government and the public. We focus in particular on the use of social media by regional police action – Traffic Management Center Polda Metro Jaya in the Jakarta region which has been recognized as a social media best practice within the Indonesian government. We find that social media has contributed to information dissemination among the public. Furthermore, social media use results in improved public image and enables citizen participation in government service delivery.