Central Bank Communication with Public: Bank of England and Twitter (X)

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Kansoy, Fatih, Mundy, Joel
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Kansoy, Fatih
Mundy, Joel
author_facet Kansoy, Fatih
Mundy, Joel
contents Central banks increasingly use social media to communicate beyond financial markets, yet evidence on public engagement effectiveness remains limited. Despite 113 central banks joining Twitter between 2008 and 2018, we lack understanding of what drives audience interaction with their content. To examine engagement determinants, we analyzed 3.13 million tweets mentioning the Bank of England from 2007 to 2022, including 9,810 official posts. We investigate posting patterns, measure engagement elasticity, and identify content characteristics predicting higher interaction. The Bank's posting schedule misaligns with peak audience engagement times, with evening hours generating the highest interaction despite minimal posting. Cultural content, such as the Alan Turing 50 pound note, achieved 1,300 times higher engagement than routine policy communications. Engagement elasticity averaged 1.095 with substantial volatility during events like Brexit, contrasting with the Federal Reserve's stability. Media content dramatically increased engagement: videos by 1,700 percent, photos by 126 percent, while monetary policy announcements and readability significantly enhanced all metrics. Content quality and timing matter more than posting frequency for effective central bank communication. These findings suggest central banks should prioritize accessible, media-rich content during high-attention periods rather than increasing volume, with implications for digital communication strategies in fulfilling public transparency mandates.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_02559
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Central Bank Communication with Public: Bank of England and Twitter (X)
Kansoy, Fatih
Mundy, Joel
General Economics
Economics
Central banks increasingly use social media to communicate beyond financial markets, yet evidence on public engagement effectiveness remains limited. Despite 113 central banks joining Twitter between 2008 and 2018, we lack understanding of what drives audience interaction with their content. To examine engagement determinants, we analyzed 3.13 million tweets mentioning the Bank of England from 2007 to 2022, including 9,810 official posts. We investigate posting patterns, measure engagement elasticity, and identify content characteristics predicting higher interaction. The Bank's posting schedule misaligns with peak audience engagement times, with evening hours generating the highest interaction despite minimal posting. Cultural content, such as the Alan Turing 50 pound note, achieved 1,300 times higher engagement than routine policy communications. Engagement elasticity averaged 1.095 with substantial volatility during events like Brexit, contrasting with the Federal Reserve's stability. Media content dramatically increased engagement: videos by 1,700 percent, photos by 126 percent, while monetary policy announcements and readability significantly enhanced all metrics. Content quality and timing matter more than posting frequency for effective central bank communication. These findings suggest central banks should prioritize accessible, media-rich content during high-attention periods rather than increasing volume, with implications for digital communication strategies in fulfilling public transparency mandates.
title Central Bank Communication with Public: Bank of England and Twitter (X)
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02559