Government and Citizen Partnership

An effective communication strategy remains a top priority in supporting the direction of an organization. Comprehending current issues, stakeholders’ views and evaluating both positive and negative trends are essential components of communication policy. Local administrators experience enormous pressure to combine service delivery with limited revenue (Melkers & Willoughby, 2005). The expectation of local government is to provide quality and efficient services to its constituents thus, the objective is to turn toward innovation to reduce expenses without sacrificing services. With the rise in cost of materials and increased budget cuts, government need to find a way to make some big savings and by using more and more digital communication, government will be saving on traditional communication costs such as paper and postage costs (Anan, n.d.).

The evolution of the internet and social media has essentially changed the communications process and is playing a larger role in the lives of everyday people. To engage with today’s citizen, government must present clear and accessible information in a timely manner. However, technology is the vehicle and not solution. Combining various online methods to access services and information is necessary to getting the most out of the web. Online tools are an essential prerequisite for engagement but quantity does not mean quality. Active promotion and an integrated approach to managing digital channels is key to effective communication and engagement. Accordingly, social media are transforming how government engages with citizens and how it delivers service (howto.gov, n.d.). Ideally, the goal for government is to share information and deliver services faster therefore, operating social medi...

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... information acquired from community residents of the local township. The township has offered to mail the questionnaire to a random sample of residents in efforts to reach a wider pool. Due to time constraints, an electronic surveys will also be utilized to conduct this research. The survey is designed to gather a statistically valid sample from the population. The number of responses for the defined area may be small, therefore the results may not accurately reflect the entire population. The survey is self-reporting so the researcher is to assume that all answers are truthful. Social media are fairly new trends in local government thus, literature pertaining to this topic is in its early stages. When measuring perceptions, it is important to remember that this survey reflects a particular period of time. Follow up surveys must be completed to determine a pattern.