Analysis of the Intensity of Communication and Coordination of Government Officials on Twitter Social Media during the Covid-19 Handling in Indonesia

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explain government officials’ communication and coordination intensity on twitter social media while handling the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. This research uses a qualitative content analysis approach towards the official Indonesian government official’s account. The result showed a developed communication and intensive coordination between President Jokowi and the team, in attempt to properly accelerate the handling process. Furthermore, this activity was also achieved with a number of governors. The presidency aimed to build the commitment of central and local government officials, and jointly support the policy implementation to properly manage Covid-19. These communication and coordination activities positively impacted on the high attention of local governments to accelerate the handling in a number of regions. However, the study limitations include the use of Twitter social media data, characterized by the inability to reveal performance of government officials. Therefore, subsequent research is expected to adopt a triangulation analysis approach to data on twitter social media, online media, official government reports, and information from trends in Indonesian cases.

Received: 7 August 2020 / Accepted: 11 February 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021