Hong Kong’s leaders and their social media strategies one year on: thumbs up or down? Experts say they are not impressed

Communication gurus say top officials could make better use of their social media presence to promote their policies and the city

Experts say ministers focus more on work done and aspects of their personal lives, at expense of creative thinking to further policy agendas

Reading Time:4 minutes

The online popularity of Chris Tang (right) is close to that of Chief Executive John Lee, experts say. Photo: Facebook@Tang Ping Keung

Published: 8:28pm, 30 Jun 2023Updated: 12:44am, 1 Jul 2023

City leader John Lee Ka-chiu and his administration launched online accounts a year ago to exploit social media but have barely scratched the surface in using them to tell better Hong Kong stories, communication experts have said.

The experts explained ministers had tended to focus on the work they did or lifted the veil on aspects of their personal lives, but had not done enough creative thinking to further their agenda on policies.

Government figures also did not do much to be aggressive on “selling” Hong Kong, even though that was made a priority after the post-pandemic reopening of the city, they said.

Experts say top government figures such as Chief Executive John Lee are not using social media to the best advantage. Photo: Sam Tsang

The personality-heavy content strategy of one minister raised eyebrows and a former senior government aide suggested that taxpayers might prefer to have their money spent on something that focused less on the individual.

Just hours into his new role on July 1 last year, Chief Executive Lee promised in his second Facebook post he would strengthen his connection to the public by sharing his everyday work and life on the social media platform.

One year on and more than 270 posts later, Lee’s Facebook page has captured around 40,000 followers, gathered about 22,600 page likes and amassed more than 530,000 interactions.

Ministers who entered the social media arena around the same time as Lee have gathered varying degrees of attention.

The city’s No 2 official, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, has about 3,300 followers. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has around 2,600.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x

Hong Kong’s leaders and their social media strategies one year on: thumbs up or down? Experts say they are not impressed

Communication gurus say top officials could make better use of their social media presence to promote their policies and the city Experts say ministers focus more on work done and aspects of their personal lives, at expense of creative thinking to further policy agendas

Communication gurus say top officials could make better use of their social media presence to promote their policies and the city

Experts say ministers focus more on work done and aspects of their personal lives, at expense of creative thinking to further policy agendas