Nyandika, Moses Mogusu2024-10-112024-10-112018-03Nyandika, M. M. (2018). An Evaluation on The Use of Facebook by Machakos County Government for Crisis Communication. Daystar University, School of Communicationhttps://repository.daystar.ac.ke/handle/123456789/5369MASTER OF ARTS in CommunicationKenya devolved public health services to county governments in 2013 and since then, the country started experiencing incessant strikes, staged by medical practitioners, aggrieved of poor working conditions and mistreatment by county government authorities. Machakos County was one of the devolved entities that were affected by the crisis. In August 2016, doctors in local public hospitals staged one of the most biting strikes, lasting three weeks. During the strike period, the county government governor used social media platforms for crisis communication. This study evaluated how the governor used Facebook for crisis communication between 3rd and 19th August, 2016. The study assessed the crisis message strategies and the crisis response strategies the governor employed to tackle the problem, and how these strategies influenced the attributions of the county government publics on Facebook. The message strategies were evaluated against the 10 mistakes an organization should avoid during crisis situations as explained by Belasen (2008), while the crisis response strategies were measured against crisis response strategies identified by Coombs (2012). Attributions of the Facebook publics held were investigated against the Stakeholders’ Cognitive Model for Information Processing During and After Crisis by Fediuk, Coombs and Botero (2010). The study established that the county government governor used denial, diminishing and bolstering posture crisis response strategies. On messages, the study established that the governor was not consistent in his initial statements about the strike and that he used unfriendly tones in his messaging. The study further found that the publics were largely angered by the responses by the governor. The study recommended the governor to use persuasive messages as proposed by Belasen (2008) and rebuilding response posture strategies as recommended by Coombs (2012) when dealing with crises.enpublic health servicescounty governments. Machakos CountyThesis