Social Media and Policy Practices

Abstract

It would be all too easy to extol the merits and exaggerate the importance of social media for the policy process. This chapter casts a critical eye over such claims, focusing on the favoured platform of policy actors: Twitter. It explores the social media practices of policy actors and reviews peer-reviewed research. The chapter draws on a comprehensive review of published research to better understand how policy actors are engaging with social media. It illustrates emerging social media practices with a case study of a policy implemented in 2012 in England and Wales, to replace local appointed police authorities with directly elected PCCs.