Government Social Media Communications during Zika Health Crisis

While the expectation for public officials and government agencies to adopt social media is high, significant questions remain regarding how these tools can be most effectively leveraged to facilitate government communication efforts under crisis conditions. These questions are more puzzling for local governments where unsupportive culture and a lack of resources tend to discourage active use of social media. In an effort to address these issues, this article examines the use of Twitter by federal, state, and local government actors during the 2015-2016 Zika virus outbreak in the United States. We learned that local governments have smaller network sizes. Federal level agencies frequently use Twitter for information provision, using URLs and images while leveraging large network sizes. Elected office holders, in general, managed large networks, and leveraged their popularity during the crisis. This analysis will be of interest to both scholars and practitioners in the areas of emergency management, public administration, and political science, as it helps to deepen our understanding of how government agencies and political leaders engage with the public during times of crisis, and how social media usage differs across various levels of government.