The Use of Social Media as Information Dissemination Tool and the Ministry of Information’s Communication of Public Policies in Ghana: A Case of Internet use by the Information Services Department, Accra

Abstract

This study focused on the use of social media as a tool for information dissemination by the Ministry of Information to communicate public policies in Ghana using the Information Services Department deployment of internet as a case study. The growing importance of social media use in the public institutions as a key medium of communication has led to a fundamental change in disseminating public policies to the citizens Although, scholarly research has provided theories, frameworks, and models on the development and use of social media, there exists a gap in the literature in examining the relationship between the use of social media and communication of public policy. Most existing research on the use of social media turns to focus on its use in relation to private sector organizations at the neglect of non-profit organizations. This study demployed the mixed methods research design and with the help of purposive and convenient sampling techniques to collect data and analyze how the use of social media for information dissemination and the Ministry of Information’s communication of public policies in Ghana: a case of internet use by the Information Services Department, Accra. Findings revealed that unfortunately, there is limited research on the use of social media in public policy dissemination and policy feedback. This void is more pronounced in developing countries where the use and adoption of social media are rapidly increasing it concludes that social media is a powerful communication tool that Information Services Department could deploy for information dissemination particularly, to communicate public policies in Ghana. This study recommends that Ministry of Information as well as Information Services Department should increase their participation and deployment of the social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to communicate public policies to Ghanaians.