A three-model approach to understand social media-mediated transparency in public administrations

Abstract

The use of social media has promised to enhance administrative transparency. Whether having positive or negative impacts, some scholars agree that such impacts could come from the mediating effects of the perceived characteristics of social media. This is a similar idea to that proposed by the concept of computer-mediated transparency. However, social media has certain properties that might influence transparency in different ways. This article tries to understand social media-mediated transparency. The study uses the affordances theory to approach the perception of social media properties, conducting interviews with community managers from three Spanish city councils. The results show several ways of understanding social media-mediated transparency: the guarantor model (focuses on availability and accessibility of information, while ensuring neutrality), the conversational model (reinforces effective transparency through continuous conversations), and the proactive model (anticipates citizen informational needs). The article signals the differential nature of social media-mediated transparency and its limits, with implications for digital government–citizen interactions. Points for practitioners The article proposes three different ways of looking at social media-mediated transparency. Social media-mediated transparency will vary depending on how public managers navigate through social media affordances. Different models of social media-mediated transparency might link with different ways of institutionalizing these digital platforms, as well as with different considerations on citizens’ roles. Transparency through social media is more than just pushing information, but also an opportunity to improve effective monitoring through continuous conversations.