Date Approved

2018

Degree Type

Open Access Senior Honors Thesis

Department or School

Political Science

First Advisor

Arnold Fleischmann

Second Advisor

Jeffrey Bernstein

Third Advisor

David Klein

Abstract

In this fast-paced society, municipal governments struggle to keep up with venues of communication to relay information to their public. As of 2017, an estimation of 23 million people follow Twitter accounts maintained by government entities. Residents depend on social media more than going to their represented municipal websites for information. Today, government employees struggle to produce information that the public can read and understand. The purpose of this study is to discover how cities and counties in Michigan use websites and social media and if a community's affluence affects governments' ability to communicate to their citizens through social media. Results showed that cities and counties in Michigan rely more on websites than they do social media.

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