2020
DOI: 10.1177/0032258x20932957
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Communicating with purpose: Image work, social media, and policing

Abstract: Police services have substantially increased their use of social media in everyday police work. Few researchers have directly asked police services about the purpose their social media accounts serve. Through in-depth interviews conducted with police personnel overseeing police services’ social media sites in Canada, this article examines the reasons provided by police services for creating and operating their social media sites. We argue that the police utilize social media to communicate an image of police t… Show more

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Cited by 26 publications
(20 citation statements)
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“…Relatedly, a recent US study, based on semi-structured interviews with 11 sworn officers and police civilian employees responsible for posting content on departmental social media websites in a mixed set of 11 large and small police agencies (Mayes, 2021), reported findings consistent with prior content analysis-based studies indicating that these managers emphasize the goals of transparency and humanizing police officers on social media. A similar finding can be found in O'Connor and Zaidi's (2020) study based on interviews with 29 police personnel overseeing police agencies' social media sites.…”
Section: Literature Reviewsupporting
confidence: 86%
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“…Relatedly, a recent US study, based on semi-structured interviews with 11 sworn officers and police civilian employees responsible for posting content on departmental social media websites in a mixed set of 11 large and small police agencies (Mayes, 2021), reported findings consistent with prior content analysis-based studies indicating that these managers emphasize the goals of transparency and humanizing police officers on social media. A similar finding can be found in O'Connor and Zaidi's (2020) study based on interviews with 29 police personnel overseeing police agencies' social media sites.…”
Section: Literature Reviewsupporting
confidence: 86%
“…This study, together with other recently published research (e.g. Cartwright and Shaw, 2020; Jeanis et al , 2019; O'Connor and Zaidi, 2020), suggest that the adroit use of social media has been routinized in many police agencies (Rogers, 2003). Agency policies and budgetary allocations for using social media effectively appear to have been adopted by the agencies studied here, and those actions appear to have paid off during the early stages of the pandemic.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 64%
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“…As Lee and McGovern (2013) argue, the image work of the police is designed to appear more open and can inevitably become entertaining, which is perhaps what has been achieved with these recruitment videos given their international attention and acclaim. Alongside appearing legitimate, transparent, and accountable, the image work of the police can entail projecting images that manipulate the public because the images can appear polished and sanitised (O’Connor & Zaidi, 2021). That is not to suggest that the NZ Police have been intentionally manipulative, but the videos did not discuss elements of the dirty work of police, nor many of the organisational stressors that deter and in some cases prompt officers to leave the force.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Accomplishing this will require instituting the improvements noted by analysts above but also a greater acceptance of a research culture within policing. Doing so would require that police services shift away from a culture of image work where data is used primarily to promote a favourable image of police to the public (Mawby, 2002; O'Connor and Zaidi, 2020).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%