דעת קהל במדיה חברתית ואג'נדה של נבחרי ציבור מקומיים: נגזרת של מאפיינים אישיים ומבניים

Both individuals and governments make broad use of social media. Though extensive research has been conducted, both in the past and the present, on practical aspects of social media usage a theoretical gap remains regarding the actual impact that public opinion as expressed on social media, has on the policy making process. The article examines this issue by exploring the conditions under which social media content generated by members of the public is reflected in the agendas of elected officials. A uniquely designed quantitative timeline-based text analysis was conducted on the Facebook pages of 109 Israeli municipal councilors and the remarks they made in city council meetings. The findings indicate that the degree of impact created by public opinion is related to structural aspects of the municipality and personal features of the politicians. The results testify to the conditional ability of the public to effectively set the agendas of policymakers in the era of the digital wisdom of the crowd.