Local engagement online: Municipal Facebook pages as hubs of interaction

• The study investigates the scope and character of activities of Israeli municipalities on Facebook.
• Facebook adoption by municipalities is uneven: No Arab city or ultra-orthodox Jewish city maintains presence on Facebook.
• Several population demographics correlate with presence, scope of activity and engagement on municipal pages.
• Population size best predicts levels of engagement: Larger cities' pages are significantly more active.
• Municipalities-initiated posts are more engaged with than users-initiated posts.
• Photos attract more engagement than any other post type.

The article presents the results of a comprehensive study of the scope and character of the activities of the Israeli municipalities on Facebook.1 The study maps the Facebook presence of Israeli municipalities and checks for correlations between Facebook presence, municipality size, and the geographic and socio-demographic characteristics of the municipalities. We then measure several engagement indices of municipal activities on Facebook (number of fans, average likes, comments, and shares of posts) and check for correlations of these engagement indices with municipality size and geographic and social demographic characteristics of the municipalities. The article concludes with a review of several indices of municipality Facebook page activity, including scope of content uploaded by the page and by fans, content formats (statuses, images, and videos) and their reception.