The Potential of Social Media in Strengthening Interpersonal Relations between the Legislature and Constituents during a Pandemic

Abstract

Restrictions on social interaction during the pandemic are aimed at stopping the spread of the virus, which generally occurs due to local transmission in a crowd. As a result, all sectors of community life are restricted. Trading, banking, educational activities including politics must avoid face-to-face interactions, even if they are carried out they must apply extra strict health protocols. The pandemic situation forced legislative members to look for innovations and strategies in order to establish communication and maintain relationships with their constituents. At the same time, the use of digital telecommunications equipment in Indonesia reached 202.6 million users (Riyanto, 2021). The implementation of Distance Education (PJJ) and internet-based public services has attached society to digital tools and social media. Members of the legislature (DPD, DPR and DPRD) who are observant see social media as a channel for mass communication and counseling as well as establishing interpersonal relationships with constituents. The use of social media is not just a media campaign, socializing various regulations, the agenda of the session is also a means of establishing interpersonal communication with the masses of voters.

The research aims to find out which social media has the most potential to support legislative performance and what are the discussions on social media as well as the responses of council members about the choice and effectiveness of social media in strengthening interpersonal relationships with constituents. Methodology: The positivistic paradigm, a type of quantitative research, in the form of survey analysis. Respondents are members of the DPD, DPR and DPRD who are active social media users during 2019 - 2020. Results: Shows that the social media application WhatsApp is the choice of the majority of politicians as much as 95.5 percent. For the intensity of the use of social media, almost half of the active members use social media every opportunity, namely 45.5 percent. The content of interaction in an effort to establish interpersonal communication with constituents is at most 77.3 percent regarding social and community.