The Use of Twitter by Police Officers in Urban and Rural Contexts in Sweden

The aim of this article is to investigate the nature of information sharing via Twitter by police officers. We examine the content of Tweets in urban and rural contexts using a sample of 20 police-related Twitter accounts, comparing official and personal accounts active in Southern Sweden. Explorato...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ceccato, Vania (Author)
Contributors: Solymosi, Reka ; Müller, Oskar
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
In: International criminal justice review
Year: 2021, Volume: 31, Issue: 4, Pages: 456-476
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Internet
Social media engagement
Rural areas
community policing
Twitter
Description
Summary:The aim of this article is to investigate the nature of information sharing via Twitter by police officers. We examine the content of Tweets in urban and rural contexts using a sample of 20 police-related Twitter accounts, comparing official and personal accounts active in Southern Sweden. Exploratory data analysis and in-depth content analysis of a sample of Tweets compose the underlying methodology. We find a distinct pattern of consistency in the content of the information shared via the official police accounts compared to the personal accounts, regardless of if they are from urban or rural areas. However, some urban–rural differences were observed between official and personal accounts regarding public engagement, operationalized as likes and Retweets. The study calls for a discussion of new models of police engagement using social media by a society that is increasingly shaped by the internet.
ISSN:1556-3855
DOI:10.1177/10575677211041926