Neighbourhood councils' use of social media and citizen engagement during a crisis situation using the example of the COVID-19 pandemic

This study examines local neighbourhood councils' use of social media as well as citizen engagement during crisis situations. The aim is to answer the questions: what content is published by neighbourhood councils? How is engagement with posted content shaped by its subject matter? How has it evolved over time? The study's reference point is the emergence and proliferation of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be treated as a global crisis situation. The analysis was conducted based on neighbourhood councils' Facebook profiles in one of the largest Polish cities - Wroc & lstrok;aw. Neighbourhood councils are grounded in their neighbourhood, and therefore are able to act more effectively as an information transmitter and broker. They serve as a platform for neighbourhood residents' activity, representing their interests in the city arena. The most important finding is that information on this crisis situation was the centre of local communities' attention for only a short period of time. The research results show that from the perspective of neighbourhood councils and their constituencies, i.e., residents, content closely related to their immediate surroundings was the most important and was characterised by the greatest engagement.