The Facebook user’s engagement regarding the Covid-19 communication: an analysis of the City Hall of Curitiba (Paraná, Brazil)

Abstract

The spread of the new coronavirus in Brazil meant that there was a substantial increase in the use of the internet due to social isolation at the beginning of the pandemic. Allied to this factor, several public agencies started to share informative content through social media. Thus, it is increasingly necessary to use tools that allow to understand the effectiveness of the disclosures made regarding the coping with the disease. The purpose of the article is to examine the engagement of followers of the official page of the Curitiba City Hall on Facebook, from the analysis of the typology and content of the posts, in addition to the behaviour of the respective public when interacting with such posts, during the first months (between 12/31/2019 and 4/30/2020) of the Covid-19 pandemic in the municipality. The methodology has a quantitative character, using the Facepager software for data collection. After the collection, an analysis was made of the types of content and types of media that the Municipality has adopted, characterizing the publications according to their main theme. As main results, it is observed that the publications increase in an increasing way, together with the number of registered cases and deaths. Nevertheless, the most used media types are photos, as well as the most shared content refer to real-time communication, awareness and education and reporting of activities carried out. It is concluded that the analysis of tools for public use, such as Facebook, is very important for local managers to understand the scope of information in times of crisis