1. Increasing civic engagement using 140 characters? An online experiment on the effects of different communication strategies and the use of hashtags ECREA Istanbul, October 26th 2012 Mirjam Lasthuizen, Sanne Gaastra, Sonja Utz & Raymond van Dongelen NHL University of Applied Sciences

2. Project Social Community •Partners: Public organizations like police and local government •How can social media be used for civic participation? •Experiment message content and use of hashtag

3. Experimental design Benefits: no benefit individual benefit group benefit Hashtag: yes/no Civic participation: retweeting clicking link contribute to website Civic engagement: high/low

4. Theoretical background •Expectancy value theories: naming benefits increase participation •Social dilemma perspective: –Motivational solution: group benefit (prosocial) –Strategic solution: gamification is incentive in individual benefit (proself) •Hashtags activate group feeling •Moderating effect of civic engagement

5. Hypotheses •H1: The group benefit increases participation more than the individual benefit in case of highly engaged persons. •H2: The individual benefit increases participation more than the group benefit concerning lowly engaged persons. •H3: A hashtag increase active participation more in case of highly engaged citizens compared to lowly engaged citizens.

7. Method •More burglaries in your neighborhood: Think along on •Individual benefit: become the Sherlock Holmes of your neighborhood •Group benefit: help to increase the safety in your neighborhood •Hashtag: #neighborhoodandpolice

8. Respondents •206 responses •1/3 male, 2/3 female •Average age: 27 • 98%: 200 friends • 73%: 65 followers • 64%: 130 contacts

9. Retweeting •Benefit •Civic engagement No benefitIndividual benefitGroup benefit 2.572.092.77 Low engagementHigh engagement 2.242.71

10. Clicking the link •Civic engagement Low engagementHigh engagement 3.243.77

11. Contributing information •Benefits * Civic engagement

12. Discussion •Individual benefit decreases retweeting: reducing competition to become Sherlock Holmes (relevancy of the content of the social dilemma besides structure) •Group benefit increases participation (contributing information), except for highly engaged citizens: motivational crowding

13. Contact websitewww.sowijs.nl twitter@sowijs.nl mailsowijs@nhl.nl