Local Government, Social Media and Management of COVID-19: The Case of Chilean Mayoral Communication

Most research on governments' use of social media focuses on the national or federal level. We therefore know little about the way local authorities harness social media platforms to communicate with their constituencies. This paper studies the role structural and political variables played in Chilean mayors' political communication strategies during 2020-2021, a period of municipal elections marked by lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluate whether the volume and characteristics of mayors' social media posts are related to political factors (partisanship; alignment or not with the governing block; years in office), socioeconomic characteristics (poverty rate; age profile; health infrastructure; etc.); and the incidence of COVID-19 cases and deaths at the municipal level. We found that mayors' social media communication strategies depend on the functions that different municipalities perform in the territory, and that socioeconomic variables differentiate these activities. More specifically, we found that mayors of poorer communities made more extensive use of social media during lockdown periods than did mayors of more affluent municipalities.

Automated summary

This paper examines the role of structural and political variables in the political communication strategies of Chilean mayors during 2020-2021. The findings suggest that social media communication strategies vary based on the functions of different municipalities and are influenced by socioeconomic factors. Mayors of poorer communities used social media more extensively during lockdown periods compared to mayors of more affluent municipalities.