To Serve and to Tweet: An Examination of Police-Related Twitter Activity in Toronto

Social Media + Society

DanielKudla¹ 

关键词: image work;    policing;    Twitter;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2056305118787520

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

Police departments across North America and Europe are using Twitter for many different reasons, one of the most important being public relations (i.e., image work). This article examines the relationship between Twitter use, police image work, and public engagement in the Canadian context. On the basis of 8,174 police-related tweets sent by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and citizens, we advance the argument that despite its dialogical potential, the TPS use Twitter first and foremost as a means to legitimize the organization and that the organizational precepts of police image appear to preclude meaningful forms of engagement with citizens via Twitter.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC