Affiliations: Information and Communication Department, Laval University, Bureau 5604, Pavillon Louis-Jacques-Casault, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada | E-mail: [email protected]
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Information and Communication Department, Laval University, Bureau 5604, Pavillon Louis-Jacques-Casault, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada. E-mail: [email protected].
Note: [1] This research was carried out during a postdoctoral research fellow under the direction of François Demers, professor at Laval University with the collaboration of Odette Delfǐn Ortega, professor at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo.
Abstract: Local Governments around the world have taken advantage of social media during the past ten years to improve transparency and to provide public services. Challenges related to information management and citizen participation have emerged, namely at the local level where the diffusion of social media has been slower compared to initiatives launched at the national level. This paper analyzes how the use of social media can reflect a change in the discursive exchanges established between local governments in Canada and Mexico and citizens. To achieve this goal, the use of YouTube by the municipalities of Quebec and Morelia was examined by using digital methods and content analysis. The author proposes the emergence of new conditions between government and users, which are changing the discourse, identity, and communication purposes of the municipalities. However, the development of more dialogic communication processes supported by social media is still a promise, at least on YouTube.
Keywords: Communication contract, local government, government communication, social media, user-generated content, YouTube
