Municipal police department’s use of Facebook: Exploring the potential for differences across size classifications

Abstract

Police departments are increasingly reliant on social media to facilitate community interaction, with Facebook serving as one of their primary options. Though a limited number of studies have explored how agencies use Facebook, these tend to focus only on large departments or those that feature the most followers on the platform. The current chapter addresses this potential limitation by exploring Facebook use among agencies located across the population continuum. Using a six-month timeframe, data were collected for all Tennessee municipal departments (N=129) featuring an active Facebook page and examined via content analysis. Results indicated that while departments located in cities posted most frequently, rural communities were more likely to interact with their police departments in the form of comments, shares, and reactions. In addition, it was revealed that content motivation and types differed based on the population classification of departments. The implications of these findings are discussed, with a specific focus on the need to account for geographical differences when pursuing research related to social media use by law enforcement agencies.