Public Communication of Local Government Leaders: A Case Study of Three Major Governors in Indonesia

Abstract

For public purposes and political contact, political insiders, regional leaders, and state officials are increasingly utilizing Twitter. To the full extent that it is a lobbying method for issues that have not become a public concern, Twitter can relay messages. This paper intends to review the use of Twitter from the official Twitter accounts of the three governors with the most followers, namely; Anies Baswedan (DKI Jakarta), Ganjar Pranowo (Central Java), and Ridwan Kamil (West Java), in the six months, with indicators; empowering citizens, building public trust in public institutions, civic engagement, providing significant insights, and strengthening transparency, which researchers draw from previous research. This study used descriptive qualitative research methods to describe the comparison and connectivity between Twitter usage indicators by @aniesbaswedan, @ganjarpranowo, and @ridwankamil. Nvivo 12 plus software with crosstab query features, word frequency, cluster analysis, and project map was used to analyze tweet intensity, conversation topics, relations between indicators, and indicator relations with each Twitter account. This study's findings show that Twitter usage by @aniesbaswedan, @ganjarpranowo, and @ridwankamil is outstanding by always tweeting oriented towards the indicators in question and having a relationship between indicators on each Twitter account. This paper's contribution is to depict the use of Twitter as a means of communication and public interaction between the three governors' accounts and their communities. It is essential to conduct studies on the usage of Twitter with more subjects of the governor account using a mixed-method approach.