Political Communication, Social Media, and Public Sphere: An Analysis to a Phenomenon in Bandung towards Smart City

Abstract

The Web 2.0 Era has influenced the dynamics of politics and democracy, both global and local level nowadays. At the local level, the rise of technology, communication, and information affects the political communication between the government and the citizen. One of the interesting phenomena about this is happening in Bandung city. Ridwan Kamil, the current Mayor of Bandung City, has brought the social media effect since the regional election 2013 until now. As the mayor city, he uses social media not only to create more public-friendly communication with the citizen but also to create more effective and efficient procedure of public service. The using of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube has managed to make huge mobilization of Bandung Citizen to be involved in government’s activities and programs. There are two cases that this paper analyzes as the effect of the web 2.0 Era on political life in Bandung. First, the regional election in 2013, it was a huge success of creative campaign by using social media instead of using traditional one as political communication to promote Ridwan Kamil and to attract citizen to choose him. Second, the use of social media and websites to inform, report, and promote government’s programs and activities to engage citizen to involve as a volunteer or participant in government’s programs. Furthermore, this phenomenon has led the government of Bandung to develop Bandung to be a ‘smart’ city. This paper gives critical analysis about how media social as a public sphere in web 2.0 era impact on political communication between government and citizen in Bandung.