Public sector communication professions in the Twitter-sphere

The paper aims to critically analyze the debate on Public Sector Communication professions that has developed on Twitter with regard to its content and to the main actors involved. We focus on the themes and the words used, in order to explore how discourses about the reform are framed. Secondly, we aim at understanding whether and how different actors have appropriated the topic. While the core of our study adopts qualitative methods, we also provide basic quantitative metrics, which contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics characterizing the conversations addressing public sector communication (PSC). Quantitative analyses include activity metrics, patterns of influence, tweet flow variation over time, user activity, tweet popularity. We then perform a thematic analysis, aiming at identifying the prevailing issues, the goals, and the communication style adopted.