The Influence and Use of Facebook in the Practice of Public Relations in County Governments of Kenya: A Case Study of Bungoma County

Abstract

Public relations practice has transformed globally with the rapid adoption of social media. Facebook remains an instrumental platform for communication and engagement, owing to its widespread adoption and interactive affordances. Even so, a significant gap exists in understanding its strategic use as a public relations tool at the county level in Kenya. Anchored in Excellence Theory and the Dialogic Theory of Public Relations, this study examined Facebook's role in Bungoma County Government's public communication. The objectives were to (i) determine the challenges Bungoma County Government faces in using Facebook as a public relations tool; (ii) assess the level of citizen engagement on the county's official Facebook page; and (iii) examine Facebook's effectiveness as a public relations tool for communication. Data were collected through content analysis of 1,513 Facebook posts published between August 2022 and August 2025, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. Findings show Facebook is used predominantly as a one-way information channel, with an overall engagement rate of 12.59% and a comment-reply rate of 17.16%, indicating limited dialogic interaction with citizens. Effectiveness is asymmetrical: most sampled citizens either distrust the page or are unaware of it. The study concludes that Facebook's public relations value in Bungoma County Government remains constrained by institutional and access-related gaps, falling short of the two-way symmetric model theorized in dialogic public relations. It recommends that the county set explicit targets for two-way engagement, pair Facebook with low-data trusted channels, and adopt a documented social media policy to move toward two-way symmetric practice. The study is justified by the need for county-level empirical evidence to guide evidence-based public relations policy in Kenya's devolved government communication, addressing a gap in literature dominated by national and Western government case studies.