Understanding Factors Influencing Crime Prevention Information on Social Media

Abstract

Social media has transformed policing practices and help to facilitate crime prevention efforts. Despite numerous studies on social media and policing in recent years, not many that focused specifically on source factors of message design and their perceived impact on crime prevention information. This present study aimed to address the gap, by investigating public perceptions toward crime prevention information posted by the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) on social media. Here, crime prevention information on social media refers to any form of communication related to crime. The study was conducted to provide preliminary insights to our research in crime prevention on social media. A survey was carried out involving 400 active Malaysian users of social media in the age range of 18-34. The findings revealed that, the public’s interest in crime prevention information on social media was primarily motivated by information seeking and sharing. Videos, written texts and infographics were found to be the most preferred social media content. The public in general, perceived police’s crime prevention information on social media positively. Out of the three different factors tested, credibility was found to be the significant predictor that can influence public’s perceived impact of crime prevention information on social media. It was also found that, public perception can influence behavior intention to access and share crime prevention information on social media. This study provided a basis for effective utilization of social media for crime prevention.