Mapping Government Social Media Research and Moving it Forward: A Framework and a Research Agenda

The growing phenomenon of government social media requires better informed and more complex studies, but all beginning with a clearer understanding of the current research. Drawing on a comprehensive review of government social media literature in the e-government, the Information Systems (IS), and the public administration (PA) research fields, we mapped government social media research into the six focus categories of context, user characteristics, user behavior, platform properties, management, and effects. Findings show that 1) research focuses on government, rather than on users; 2) studies focusing on context, management, and users mostly focus on quantitative aspects; 3) the properties of social media platforms are under-investigated; and 4) research on the relationship between constructs of the government social media phenomenon is under-investigated.
Based on our analysis, we propose a framework to frame relationships between the six focus categories. We also identify a four-point research agenda to move government social media research forward, from description to complex impact analysis.