The extent to which Kazakh state bodies utilize social media as a communication medium

Abstract

Social Media is a very powerful tool for establishing communication between the population and the government, as well as improving the efficiency of Public Administration. The use of social media in public administration is a new phenomena with numerous advantages and disadvantages. Despite the fact that it became widely used in Kazakhstan in recent years, there has been little research on the subject. Therefore, this research work aimed at identifying the extent to which state bodies exploit the potential of social media to generate two-way communication in addition to delivering information, and to find out about citizen engagement with the government.

The study employed two quantitative research approaches. The social media pages of regional governments (akimat of Turkestan region, akimat of West Kazakhstan region) on Instagram and Facebook were analyzed, and as the second method, a survey was conducted among users of social media in Kazakh and Russian (105 people participated).

According to the study's findings, the government mostly uses the potential of social media to distribute information, rather than as a means of two-way communication. On the social media pages that were the object of the study, engagement of the population is very low, with only 3-4 comments written in each publication on average. Although these institutions create content on a regular basis, research has revealed that the great majority of content does not pique the public's attention or spark debate.