Abstract This paper presents the first findings of research that focused on the use of social media by Slovak regional towns. Social media, namely Facebook, are considered a powerful tool for various public administration activities that do not relate only to informing citizens, but also having them participate in decision-making and municipality governance. Th e paper points out the ways of social media usage by selected municipalities. Th e research was carried out in the months of February and March 2018 using a special tool for analyzing Facebook pages called Quintly and a questionnaire survey among the employees of the municipalities. Th e results indicate that municipalities use Facebook mainly for ex-ante informing and for asking citizens to vote in various competitions that can help the local government to gain funding for some public services. Calling for participation in decision-making is very limited. Th e paper also shows a comparative perspective that can be used by municipalities but also by other local or even national governments to work further with Facebook and adopt a social media use strategy.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体可以成为斯洛伐克市政参与式治理的工具吗？

摘要本文介绍了斯洛伐克地区城镇对社交媒体使用的首次研究发现。社交媒体，即Facebook，被认为是各种公共管理活动的有力工具，这些活动不仅与告知公民有关，而且还使他们参与决策和市政管理。本文指出了选定城市使用社交媒体的方式。研究是在2018年2月和3月进行的，使用了一种名为Quintly的特殊工具来分析Facebook页面，并在市政当局的雇员中进行了问卷调查。结果表明，市政当局主要将Facebook用于事前通知和要求公民在各种竞赛中投票，这些竞赛可以帮助地方政府获得一些公共服务的资金。要求参与决策的机会非常有限。本文还显示了一种比较观点，市政当局可以使用它，其他地方甚至国家政府也可以使用它来与Facebook进一步合作并采用社交媒体使用策略。