ABSTRACT
Social media technologies are an important communication channel that many government organizations have added to their public affairs toolkit. This chapter sets out to review the barriers and drivers for social media use in government, distinguish different types of social media communication modes based on the different types of missions of government organizations, and provides examples for different types of audience focus and the intended outcomes of the social media communications. For the adoption of social media technologies, the context of government is important and differs from the private sector. Red tape, such as bureaucratic norms in the public sector, oftentimes leads to slow adoption and inconsistencies across jurisdictions or government organizations when it comes to new technologies. Social media use has the potential for better and more effective communication, audience engagement, and innovative forms of online collaboration with the public. A type of audience-driven social media strategy is NASA's mission-driven segmentation.
