Government-Owned Digital Services to Overcome the Spread of COVID-19, Case in Indonesia

Abstract

The Indonesian government faces challenges in running public services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure to implement digital-based service solutions so that public affairs within the government-run. Our research analyzes social media discourse to understand the joint production of digital-based public services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research uses a qualitative method, using a netnographic method approach that is referenced from the Twitter social media data set and analyzed using discourse as a flow to analyze citizen responses to the contact tracer application (CTA) (pedulilindungi. id) owned by the Indonesian government through the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia in minimizing risks. Our research contributes to the accountability sector for digital-based public services. It provides a scientific understanding of public trust in influencing the development of coproduction of digital-based services. This study found a high public sentiment toward the care protection application and a lack of trust in the government's actions in overcoming the COVID-19 problem, especially running CTA. Public responses from Twitter users express disappointment and doubt that data is always not updated. In addition, the digital divide is a problem faced by the public, who have little understanding of the care-protected application services. In the end, we realized that this research has limitations in capturing the public's response directly outside social media to implement digital-based service co-production. We recommend further research to see the public reaction from other approaches, such as social media outside of Twitter.