Edinburgh Napier University

  The primary aim of my thesis is to better understand police and citizen communication via social media in Scotland. This research is important given the emergence of social media as a communications channel for police forces in a Scottish and global context. Specifically, this research will examine the nature of police and citizen communication via social media, the engagement of the policing audience on social media, and how police use of social media relates to broader considerations such as legitimacy, accountability and crime control? For this, a predominantly qualitative methodology with a case study research design has been adopted. This will focus on both police and citizen perspectives and will be studied using a multi-method approach, involving observation, interviews, focus groups and online methods of analysis.