A content analysis of Twitter updates of public research institute in Indonesia

Author: Purnama Alamsyah

The use of twitter as a communication tool is not only dominated by the private, but also is used by public institution such as public research institutes. Twitter can be used by public research institutes as a means to communicate their activities and research results to the public, and in return to receive the feedback accordingly.

This study is using content analysis to investigate and evaluate how Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) as an oldest public research institute in Indonesia using Twitter as their communication and relationship-building tools with the public. In general, this study is trying to examine how a public research institute such as Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) build an engagement with the public through their tweets. In particular, this study examined the frequencies of tweet, hashtags, retweet, public message and hyperlinks that they create. The main finding of this study is that the communication model used by Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in incorporating Twitter tended to be dominated by one way communication model.

Indonesian Institutes of Sciences (LIPI), as public research institute in Indonesia, had not optimized Twitter as a media to build an engagement with public in their activity and research report. They only used Twitter in conveying news and information to public related with their activities, but they rarely used it as a dialogue tools with the public.