Digital social networks as information transparency: a proposal for usage evaluation parameters

Abstract

The growing appreciation of democratic precepts and consequent increase in civil participation in public decision-making, combined with the emergence of new digital information and communication channels, resulted in a paradigm shift that reframed administrative transparency policies, demanding greater attention to production, dissemination and use of public data and information. This study maps evaluation parameters that monitor the quality of info-communicational services mediated by digital social networks as institutional transparency channels. A documentary, descriptive, quantitative and qualitative research was conducted to integrate indicators and criteria used to evaluate info-communicational services on transparency websites and portals to the use guidelines of institutional social networks. The main scientific findings are presented in two tables. The first summarizes the informational framework used as the basis for mapping and consolidating the indicators; the second presents the indicators and their respective evaluation criteria. The five indicators identified seek to assess communicability, accessibility, usability, reliability, and transparency in social channels. Guiding and evaluating the use of digital social networks is paramount for the alignment of services provided by the Public Administration with its own objectives and strategies, with legal provisions and with societal expectations. Besides validating the use of these channels as institutional info-communicational tools, defining these parameters fills a gap in terms of administrative transparency.