Exploring fluctuations in citizen engagement on a local government Facebook page in Japan

The Tsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square is a Facebook page managed by a local government in Japan that has over 2000 followers including various civil society organizations and individuals that are oriented towards civic activities. This study explored how various functions of government elevate the civil society Facebook page engagement and how latent dysfunctions of government operations inadvertently depress engagement. This study analyzed the results of two field experiments to promote this online community page from 2012 through 2013 and also conducted three interviews among local government workers involved in online community management of the page. This study determined that the different stages of growth can be attributed to a blend of periodic social gatherings and paid advertisements. Social gatherings were found to be more beneficial for “engagement” that affected the initial and continuous growth and promotion of online engagement in the early and later stages of this community.