Social Media Use by Government in Canada: Examining Interactions of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada on Twitter and Facebook

In 2011, the Government of Canada acknowledged the need to use social media to interact with the public for the first time. The Open Dialogue stream of initiatives within the Canada's Action Plan on Open Government called for a two-way dialogue between the Government of Canada and the public. Currently, the majority of government agencies use social media. However, they are still exploring methods for using these new tools as a part of existing communication channels. As recent studies suggest, government does not consider social media as a way to engage the public in public service delivery or policy-making, rather views it as a new means to provide information, much of which is already available on the government agencies' websites. This paper examines how one of the federal government agencies, Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada (IRCC), uses social media. As the analysis shows, IRCC interacts with the public by answering questions, providing information about its programs and services, and sharing information posted on other accounts. The findings indicate that (i) IRCC engages much more actively on Twitter than on Facebook; (ii) IRCC views Twitter as a way to answer questions that immigrants, students, workers, visitors to Canada as well as Canadian citizens and permanent residents might have about its programs and services and (iii) in general, IRCC does not seek opinions nor engage on policy development issues neither on Twitter nor on Facebook.