{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T04:21:58Z","timestamp":1760242918475,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,9]],"date-time":"2016-11-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1478649600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["25330394"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25330394"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Although the importance of advocacy activities by civil society organizations (CSOs) in policy and decision-making procedures has been greatly emphasized in the literature of political science and social policy, we have relatively little understanding of the relevance and impact of the leading actors who structure the diverse networks and discourses through social media; further recognition is needed in both fields. The purpose of this study is to analyze civil society organizations at the local government level involved in advocacy activities through the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Our study focuses on a specific Japanese Facebook community page\u2014the \u201cTsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square\u201d\u2014aimed at enhancing civil society activities in Japan. This page is operated by the municipal government of Tsukuba, in collaboration with the University of Tsukuba and Intel Corporation. Our findings indicate that social networking services such as Facebook can provide civil society organizations with: (1) more political opportunities to advocate; (2) more chances to connect with the local government; and (3) create opportunities to exert greater presence, despite their limited financial and political resources.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info7040066","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,9]],"date-time":"2016-11-09T10:09:39Z","timestamp":1478686179000},"page":"66","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Who Leads Advocacy through Social Media in Japan? Evidence from the \u201cTsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square\u201d Facebook Page"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3355-6593","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sae","family":"Okura","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5247-6041","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Muneo","family":"Kaigo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1540-6237.2007.00457.x","article-title":"Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations: Their Characteristics and Activities","volume":"88","author":"Child","year":"2007","journal-title":"Soc. 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