Affiliations: [a] School of Health and Human Services, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA | [b] Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Mariglynn Edlins, School of Health and Human Services, University of Baltimore, 1420 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. E-mail:medlins@ubalt.edu
Abstract: Recent academic literature highlights the potential
benefits of social media use by government agencies, such as police
departments (PDs). This study builds on previous work to explore whether and
how the top 10 U.S. police departments changed their social media use
between two points in time. To do this, we examine what, if any, changes
have occurred in PDs' use of social media, their use of it for interaction,
as well as their use of the platforms for dialogic communication. Our
findings suggest that there is change, yet the change is slow and not always
in the direction of hype.
Keywords: Social media, police, information and communication technology, local government
