Utilizing the Interactivity of Social Media in Political Communication of the Iraqi Government and Parliament Websites

Abstract

The present study aims to explore the extent to which the government discourse interacts with the public within the political communication environment in Iraq, which has witnessed democratic transformations in its communication and political systems. The degree of interaction involved in the political communication process, in light of modern technology, was examined through a selected sample representing the websites of the largest government institutions concerned with communication in Iraq: the central government's website and the Iraqi parliament's website. For the purpose of the study, the focus was exclusively on the interactive response shown by political communicators to user comments, given the importance of providing indicators of interest and positive interaction by government institutions in their relationships with society and in achieving the effectiveness of political communication in emerging democracies. The analytical sample was limited to three social networking sites available on the websites of the Iraqi government and parliament: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Interactions were monitored during the period of April 2022. The quantitative method of content analysis was employed to reveal the level of interactions by the political communicator, complemented by a thematic analysis of the users' comments. The results showed a lack of interest and interaction on the part of those government websites in responding to comments or opinions published by the public, revealing that the pattern of the top-down communication model still dominates the mentality of political communicators in new democracies.