Facebook as a dialogic communication tool at the most visited museums of the world

La comunicación de los museos de arte en Facebook: comparación entre las principales instituciones internacionales y españolas

Introducción. Se analiza el impacto de la información sobre el COVID-19 en la población española para identificar los efectos y las emociones relacionadas con los canales y fuentes de consumo informativo durante la primera fase de la pandemia, que coincidió con los primeros días del estado de alarma. Metodología. Se realizó una encuesta administrada a través de Internet (n=1823.) que se distribuyó durante la segunda y la tercera semana de confinamiento (del 23 de marzo al 8 de abril de 2020) a toda la población mayor de edad residente en España y con acceso a internet. Resultados. Entre los resultados obtenidos destacan que, las noticias sobre la pandemia generaban en ese periodo diferentes emociones negativas -Tristeza, Ansiedad, Miedo, Confianza e Ira-, que variaban en función del canal de consumo informativo. Entre los temas que más interés tuvieron para los encuestados destacan los datos sobre la evolución de la pandemia, las medidas de protección y las formas de contagio; mientras que las fuentes más creíbles fueron las organizaciones y las autoridades oficiales, el personal sanitario y los medios de comunicación. Se aprueba la gestión de comunicación de crisis realizada por el Gobierno, que obtiene una nota media de 7,5 durante esta primera fase de la crisis. Se demuestra una circulación amplia de noticias falsas y de desinformación. Conclusión. Se demuestra la importancia de las emociones -en especial, las negativas- en las percepciones de la población en contextos de crisis como la del Covid-19 en España. En concreto, el Apoyo Emocional es el segundo mensaje oficial mejor valorado y, la Empatía, la característica más destacada de la información recibida. Se aprecia positivamente la capacidad del Gobierno por “entender” y “ponerse en lugar de la ciudadanía” por delante de cualquier otro aspecto.

Institutional communication is becoming a strategic instrument for universities, since it facilitates the relationships with their various publics and allows positioning of the institutional brand, which will contribute to building a distinctive reputation. The types of content disseminated by universities via their social media accounts will contribute decisively to these objectives, since the way in which the different topics are communicated may influence the publics’ perceptions of these higher education institutions. This research analyses the different types of content disseminated by universities (in Europe, the United States and Latin America) via their accounts on social networks (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn), to assess the main content topics that define the universities’ communicative positioning. A content analysis of the publications by universities on their social networks was carried out, representing an appropriate method to recognize the main themes and topics of their communication strategy. The results reveal two main thematic blocks of content: functional (teaching, research and social commitment topics) and institutional (organizational and contextual topics). Institutional publications are the most relevant block of content, far above the functional posts. In terms of specific topics, the organizational ones are the most common, well above publications on teaching or research, while contextual and social commitment content is used marginally. Most universities, in all regions and on all social networks, follow a dominant strategy of institutional content. So, the higher education institutions are mainly using social networks as a strategic tool for institutional positioning, more than informing about their daily activity.

Social media have become a key tool in the institutional communication of universities to disseminate content and establish interaction and dialogue with their publics. Content strategy in social networks is a relevant aspect to inform their audiences about their daily activities and position universities in the digital sphere. This article studies the influence of the different types of content posted by universities on their social networks on the level of engagement of their publics. We conducted a content analysis of more than 90,000 posts by 70 universities in three regions (Europe, the United States and Latin America) on their institutional profiles on three social networks (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn). The results show that the level of engagement achieved by the universities’ posts is very low. Universities clearly prioritize institutional content over functional content, and organizational topics are the most published on social networks. Institutional content achieves a higher level of engagement than functional content, and posts on organizational topics have the best level of engagement. Our study might refute the hypothesis that “functional content will generate a higher level of engagement than institutional content on social networks.” Thus, it can be concluded that the combination of content on social networks suggests that universities mainly use social networks to develop an institutional positioning strategy on social media.