Search

Introduction: This article analyses how the digital revolution has forced Ecuador's public organisations to redesign their strategies in order to promote their services and interact with citizens. Method: The study follows a non-experimental, exploratory and descriptive approach based on a questionnaire survey applied to the chief communications officers of 52 public institutions. Results: The main findings are related to the structure of the communication departments of public institutions; the stage of development of public organisations in the design of social media strategies; the social networks and resources most commonly used by public institutions; and the tools used to measure their effectiveness. Discussion: The results indicate that public organisations need to professionalise their social media management team and to elevate their relationship with citizens to a strategic level. Conclusions: It is necessary to generate a professional strategy and structure to improve the management of social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction and development of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in the Community of Madrid respond to the need of adjusting broadcasting to the new technological requirements, and to the firm, very ambitious and carefully designed political objective of making the Community of Madrid the leader in the implementation of DTT in Spain. This article aims to show the more relevant policies carried out by the government of this Community during 2008 and 2009 for the digital switchover. This article acknowledges that the Community of Madrid's technological adjustment policy is framed within a wider national policy called PlanAvanza (2009-2012), which greatly supports, in its Infrastructures section, the nationwide implementation of DTT, and issubsequently determined by the National Technical Plan for DTT(PTNTDT). Based on the collected data, this article studies the level of DTT household penetration in the Community of Madrid during 2008-2009, the informative effectiveness of the campaigns designed to promote awareness about this technological change and ensure the necessary social support, and the effectiveness of the policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships between institutional communication and media communication influence the shaping of social representations of public issues. This research article analyses these relationships based on the case study of the external communication of a public institution, the press releases of Spain's Youth Institute (Instituto de la Juventud, aka, Injuve), during three years and their repercussion in the press during the same period of time. The results obtained in this research allowed drawing conclusions on the types of communication production of the aforementioned institution and the news treatment of such pieces of information by the printed and digital media. The press releases and the news items were studied using quantitative media content analysis which focused, especially, in referential issues like the information treatment, the thematic analysis, youth representations in the case of the releases; and the visibility of the press releases in the making of news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents blogs as an innovative and rich tool for political communication. Blogs can facilitate two-way communication and true interaction between citizens and politicians. The article analyses in depth the content, uses, and characteristics of five weblogs written by Aragonese politicians. Although the study detects some weaknesses in the current political use of blogs, it encourages political parties to use blogs and other online resources, not only during electoral campaigns to improve the reputation of political leaders but also continuously and particularly in situations of special interest for the citizenship. The study shows that the use of blogs by Aragonese politicians is no longer just a transitory phenomenon and has become a reality. The article also demonstrates that politicians use blogs mostly as a pre-electoral tooland to a much lesser extent as an element of communication to promote democracy. It has been observed that politicians' blogs are used as a tool to overcome situations of crisis and to compensate negative opinions caused by questionable acts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]