Varia Ranah - Sorotan Ilmiah Perkhidmatan Awam

226 Varia Ranah: Sorotan Ilmiah Perkhidmatan Awam LITERATURE REVIEW Conceptualizing Social Media and Public Policy The development of social media tools over the last decade has altered modes of communications between governments and citizens. Social media has opened ways for greater political participation, thereby creating a new social dynamic. It is an internet-based tool that unifies geographically dispersed individuals on virtual platforms through user-generated content. Leavey (2013) defines social media as a social structure made of nodes comprised of individuals or organizations tied by one or more specific types of interdependencies, such as values, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, kinship, dislike, conflict, or trade. In reality, the innovative tool brings together people of common value systems, visions, and aspirations to collaboratively form opinions on issues of concerns in virtually-connected environments. Pinzón (2013) posits that social media is part of a wider trend in a communication landscape that is characterised by mass collaboration; it is responsible for a significant portion of time expended online. Social media refers to the online tools that permit real-time interactions and feedbacks (for instance, Web 2.0); it is a broad term that extends beyond Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to include e-government. Social media can also be seen as a productive tool that relives social struggle. In the context of this study, int will focus on Facebook as most Malaysian prefer to use Facebook in express their opinion on matters relating the government policy or action. The concept of public policy was developed in response to heightened social struggle and duties of governments to ensure citizens’ welfare (Nyong'o, 1998). Public policy is concerned with how societal issues are defined, constructed, and approached on a political level, and is used to examine the effects of a government’s actions or inactions. Social media has opened ways for greater political participation, thereby creating a new social dynamic