Institutional Communication for young people in “Empty Spain”? The
mobile bid in the demographic context of Castilla y León
¿Comunicación institucional para jóvenes en la España vaciada? La apuesta
móvil en el contexto demográco de Castilla y León
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nº 36, pp. 341-358
| 341
January-June of 2023
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
How to cite this article:
Quevedo-Redondo, R. and Gómez García, S. (2023). Institutional Communication for young people in “Empty Spain”? e mobile bid in the
demographic context of Castilla y León.
Doxa Comunicación
, 36, pp. 341-358.
https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n36a1708
Raquel Quevedo-Redondo.
Researcher and Lecturer in the Journalism degree at Valladolid University (UVa), where
she is currently coordinating the Area. In 2018, professor Quevedo Redondo nished her doctoral thesis after obtaining
a grant from University Teacher Training (FPU). ACOP awarded her “nalist” for the III Prize for the best doctoral
dissertation on Political Communication. She is currently combining teaching with participating in research projects
such as “
Politainment ante la fragmentación mediática: Desintermediación, ‘engagement’ y polarización
” (
Referencia
PID2020-114193RB-I00), funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Her main lines of research focus on the
feminisation of politics and its application to communication and the study of the various forms of politainment.
University of Valladolid, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-6219-3237
Salvador Gómez-García.
European PhD in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid. Professor in the
Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities at Valladolid University. Lead Researcher of the Project “
Politainment
ante la
fragmentación mediática: Desintermediación, ‘engagement’ y polarización
” (Reference PID2020-114193RB-I00), funded
by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. His main lines of research include both media history and interactive digital
narratives. He is currently undertaking a research stay at the Complutense University of Madrid with the project
LÚDICO
(
Political Ludication: Communication and digital culture
) within the programme for the requalication of university
professors funded by the Ministry of Universities and the University of Valladolid (2022-2024).
University of Valladolid, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-5126-6464
Abstract:
is research addresses the current state of institutional
communication through mobile applications, examining the scope of
their implementation and dening their characteristics in a specic
socio-demographic context: Castilla y León (Spain). We analysed a
total of 258 apps to identify the factors that lead a municipality in this
region to have its application to determine the extent to which these
resources are used and the prevailing developer type. Ultimately, we
want to answer the question of whether young people in Castilla y León
Resumen:
Esta investigación aborda el estado actual de la comunicación institu
-
cional a través de las aplicaciones móviles, atendiendo al alcance de su
implantación y a sus características denitorias en un particular con
-
texto sociodemográco: el de Castilla y León (España). El análisis de un
total de 258 apps se dirige a identicar los factores que propician que
un municipio de esta región cuente con una aplicación propia, conocer
la cantidad de uso que tienen estos recursos y averiguar cuál es el tipo
preeminente de desarrollador. En último término se anhela responder
Received: 01/06/2022 - Accepted: 23/09/2022 - Early access: 30/09/2022 - Published: 01/01/2023
Recibido: 01/06/2022 - Aceptado: 23/09/2022 - En edición: 30/09/2022 - Publicado:
01/01/2023
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1. Introduction
One out of four residents in
Castilla y León
are over 65, according to the data from the census compiled by the National
Institute of Statistics in 2022 (INE). Twenty six point one percent of Castilian and Leoneses are over retirement age compared
to 19.97% of the average in Spain. erefore the nine provinces in the region make up an objectively ageing population,
where demographic evolution has become a strategic priority. In this respect, the “Agenda for the Population 2010-2020”
has dedicated the last decade to actions targeted at social collectives key to achieving greater demographic vitality. Young
people, families and emigrants are at the core of this initiative, populations who are seeking a suitable place to live and build
their future (Vidal-Domínguez and Fernández-Portela, 2020). Men and women aged 15- 34 (dened as “young people” by
the Institute of Youth) play a fundamental role in the regions and autonomies, where cities aim to change the trend in the
census in the short-medium term. Consequently, it is essential to create job opportunities and for political leaders and public
institutions to connect with specic audiences. is calls for new ways to communicate using specic language codes through
strategies adapted to the audience’s needs.
Appearances matter in politics (Blakeley, 2016) and the 21st-century voter not only wants to feel heard but also understood.
e commitment to communication 2.0 and the mobile phone application ecosystem (hereinafter, apps) is comprehensible,
as their use is increasing at a governmental level (Monteserín-Leiva, 2014; Gómez-García et al., 2019; Navarro-Sierra and
Quevedo-Redondo, 2020). However, at times the app creators only want to have a presence on the internet, neglecting a
fundamental aspect: the content (Quevedo-Redondo et al., 2021).
Political and institutional communication in autonomous communities such as Castilla y León mainly focuses on connecting
with older voters through interviews, press conferences or releases from traditional media (press, radio and television).
However, recent studies demonstrate that increasingly more municipalities in Castilla y León have apps connected to their
cities (Alvarez, 2021). Consequently, apps are now “institutions face of good or bad modernisation or innovation strategies”
(De la Hera Conde-Pumpido, 2009:1). ey are sometimes connected to the idea of smart cities in Spain (Barceló-Ugarte, 2017).
Indeed, the candidates for the presidency of the 2022 council elections in the Castilla y León election year (Alfonso Fernández
Mañueco –
P.P
.–, Luis Tudanca –
PSOE
–, Francisco Igea –
Ciudadanos
–, Pablo Fernández –
Podemos
– and Juan García-Gallardo
(the potential target group of app developers) can take advantage of the
resources made available to them or whether those who promote tools
under the institutional seal do so to avoid unfavourable comparisons
with neighbouring communities in the ecosystem we are addressing.
Keywords
:
Institutional communication; young people; mobile applications;
municipalities;
Castilla y León
.
a la pregunta sobre si los jóvenes castellanos y leoneses (público poten
-
cial de los creadores de apps) pueden sacar partido a los recursos que se
les brindan o si, simplemente, quienes impulsan las herramientas bajo
el sello institucional lo hacen para evitar la comparación negativa con
municipios cercanos que sí tienen presencia en el ecosistema al que nos
aproximamos.
Palabras clave:
Comunicación institucional; jóvenes; aplicaciones móviles; ayunta
-
mientos; Castilla y León.
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–
Vox
–) have devoted part of their aggressive election campaign to acknowledging young people and the self-employed in rural
areas more. is population is calling for assistance so as not to be forced to leave their villages.
Politicians’ election speeches show that they are not oblivious to needed incentives for young people that would prevent
an exodus and depopulation. ey also highlight the importance of reaching 2248 municipalities in the nine provinces and
connecting in a more personalised way adapted to the times.
erefore, the rst critical step would be to create apps providing local councils’ service information and conveying popular
sentiment about the Area’s most pertinent problems and needs. is research is based on this proposal. e following research
questions qualify as a basis for determining the extent of the shortcomings in this sense:
Q1
1:
What territories in Castilla y León had their own apps in the period before the elections (i.e., in 2021)? In those that did,
is there a relationship between the number of young people in the municipality’s census and the increased use of mobile
apps, or are other factors at play?
QI
2:
Regarding services provided to users by institutional applications, are micro-segmentation criteria applied by age
when creating content, or is the trend to follow a sole measure of usefulness for all citizens?
We aim to answer these questions and to lay the groundwork for opening the discussion on whether young people in Castilla y
León can make the most of apps. We also seek to determine whether those promoting the tools under an institutional seal are
simply doing so to avoid being compared negatively with nearby municipalities not a part of the ecosystem described above.
2. eoretical framework
is research addresses issues as diverse as depopulation in Spain, communication targeted at dierent age groups, the use of
new narratives and the exploitation of so-called “plataformisation” (García et al. 2021), and the study of public communication
through new media. We propose an integrative framework to provide the necessary elements to understand the communicative
role of institutional apps in the socio-demographic context of Castilla y León.
Firstly, youth plays an indisputable role in the prevailing consumption in today’s society, which leads to the interest in
studying communication in dierent social environments. In any case, the lack of academic works on local councils’ new
institutional communication forms is not representative of this interest. erefore, it can be argued that this type of research is
relatively unexplored, perhaps because institutional communication has a variety of terminology that somewhat complicates
its study. In this sense, references with names as diverse as “administrative information, “organisational communication”,
and “institutional advertising” are found in manuals and scientic articles, among other combinations. Regardless of the
terminology used, Núñez-Manzano (2017) exemplies other authors’ sentiments describing the sphere as seeking to bring
an organisation closer to its audience, improving audience’s perception of it, in order to ensure the organisation’s prosperity.
Consequently, its raison d’être is to manage the dialogue between institutions and society and, more specically, between
the institution and its external audience. Recently, communication has shifted its focus from the organisation’s objectives to
the audience’s. In other words, “the axis of gravity of communication management shifts, since it is no longer based on the
organisation’s needs but individuals attitudes and behaviours” (Costa-Sánchez, Míguez and Túñez-López, 2018, p. 922).
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Despite the variety of terms referring to public institutional communication, there is a consensus on its denition as “two-
way communicative-relational interaction established between the Government and citizens through messages endowed
with heterogeneous meanings (as the object of communication) through interpersonal, collective, mass and telematic
media (Campillo-Alhama, 2008, p. 549). e main dierence between public and business communication is based on the
former’s dual purpose. Although both types of institutions (public and private) aim to improve their image in the public eye,
governments want to meet the population’s needs. In other words, local councils intend to demonstrate that they are at the
service of the citizen. Citizens must perceive this (Almansa-Martínez, 2008) so that communication originating from town
councils is not “an unimportant issue” but instead is a strategic element to improve the institution’s image if managed correctly
(Núñez-Manzano, 2017, p. 88). Communication must foster relations with citizens and reinforce their image of institutions.
e objective is to reach a consensus on public management and for citizens to feel “informed of all administrative actions and
initiatives that may aect their status as administrators” (Campillo-Alhama, 2010, p. 47).
When communication is inecient, men and women may not value the local council’s proper action, which could deteriorate
relations with local leaders. Costa (cited in Núñez-Manzano, 2017) states that the absence or lack in public communication
entails the risk that “good management is not valued suciently because it has not been explained”. Even if the municipality
oers good products and services; the leaders isolate themselves from citizens. is would be very detrimental, and according
to Monteserín-Leiva (2014, “citizen’s opinion and involvement are essential to optimising the available resources” (p. 392) so
that communication fulls dual purpose: to be useful for citizens and governments, combining both interlocutors to dene
themselves.
Nowadays, bi-directionality is more urgent than ever because of institutional and social development, as governments were
once “autocratic, isolated and detached from social reality” but are now an entity that “adapts to the transformations happening
around it” (Núñez-Manzano, 2017, p. 77). Indeed, we should refer to Patricia Monteserín’s study from 2014 on government
communication in Castilla y León, which revealed that administrative services were not implemented much, explaining why
impersonal and/or inecient relations between governors and governed are often associated with a long delay in responses.
2.1. e shift to mobiles in public communication
Public institutional communication via mobile applications is the most signicant aspect of this research. Studying apps is
of interest since it is assumed that this tool can build communities of individuals with shared interests or needs (Holmen et
al., 2017). Furthermore, boosting these communities’ commitment and motivation (Kim, Lin and Sung, 2013). ey inuence
public opinion by contributing to “changing the information and entertainment ecosystem” (Planells de la Maza, 2020, p. 17).
Likewise, in terms of providing services to citizens, one of the most signicant advantages of an application for managing
public communication is its ability to hamper most users’ reluctance to engage in dialogue with local councils through social
networks, provided that they use platforms responsibly and write content that “contribute to the process” (Suárez-Álvarez,
2021, p. 16).
Another advantage for institutions that have their own app is their ability to minimise problems arising from the unqualied
use of council websites that may have become obsolete over time (Muñoz and Hernández, 2022). is is relevant if we are to
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consider Castilla y León’s ageing population; as Xavier Peytibi points out (2016, p. 35), citizens should have “simple tools”
(user-friendly ones for people of any age and with any education) to nd out what is happening on the streets, complain when
necessary and “help their council to improve things”. A proposal such as the ones mentioned above means exploring the
degree to which mobile applications are used and consumed by dierent generations and determining their usefulness and
user-friendliness as keys to their success (Fernández-Lores, Marquez and Villaverde, 2021).
3. Methodology
is research takes Suárez-Álvarez’s (2021) study as a reference on institutional communication through mobile applications
in municipalities in Castilla y León to ll the gap the work does not concerning the specic attention app developers pay to the
public that tends better to manage the resources from mobile technology and new tools: young people. For this purpose, we
have analysed direct data collection on institutional communication apps in Castilla y León. We have reected on the type of
content that most attracts men and women under 35 in the demographic context in the European Union’s largest community.
e qualitative aspect of the analytical work is of specic interest since “as long as there is only an uncritical reproduction of
gures from any source without assessing their methodological quality, the barrier of conventional journalism- and research-
will not have been crossed” (Dader and Fernández, 1993, p. 101). Regarding the data collection process for this article, apps
from Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora, whose content is directly connected
to institutional communication, were studied. e sample focuses on the apps on the virtual Android Store, Google Play,
as it is the prevailing operating system in Spain (Statista, 2022). We combine the name of each municipality with Boolean
operators and keywords for this research, such as
“informa”, “información”, “communicación institucional”, “ayuntamiento”,
or
consistorio”.
is process was carried out with all 2248 municipalities in Castilla y León; 302 apps related to 276 of them were
detected. Apps were excluded if they had access errors to the content during the sample screening, and it was veried that the
error persisted regardless of the Android version. Subsequently, those that did not contain any information or institutional
communication and had no activity since 2020 were excluded after each app was reviewed and downloaded. ose whose
content did not include updatable information were also omitted (especially apps solely related to tourism). us, the nal
sample (see Annex) comprised 258 mobile apps corresponding to 250 municipalities developed by 48 dierent developers,
created on 13 November, a year before the elections were held in the autonomous region presided over by Alfonso Fernández
Mañueco (13 February 2021).
Regarding the template designed for the analysis, the elds were divided into six blocks with dierent variables. is distribution
comes from the models developed by previous investigations specifying the other units of study used (Gómez-García et al.,
2019; Quevedo-Redondo et al., 2021; Fernández-Lores et al., 2021):
–
e 1st Block is dedicated to the app’s descriptive data to record its name and the municipality to which it is linked.
–
e 2nd Block refers to the features and general characteristics of the municipality and app to specify which of the nine
provinces the territory corresponds to and the number of inhabitants registered in it according to the National Institute
of Statistics, and the date of the rst and last publication/update on the application (information available on Play Store).
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–
e 3rd Block refers to the quantitative use of the app, including information on the number of downloads and an average
number of days between publications.
–
e 4th Block refers to the qualitative use of the application, which includes information on the user’s average rating on
the online store Google Play, the number of user comments on Google Play and the type of comments. is construct is
evaluated
quantitatively
(based on the number of stars the app receives on average) and qualitatively: positive comments
(those praising the app’s services or highlighting its strengths), negative (those focusing on its limitations or questioning
its usefulness) or neutral (those addressing other issues not directly linked to the app). We must also add the variable re
-
garding information ow (one-unidirectional, bidirectional or multi-directional).
–
e 5th Block refers to the developers who created the app and their prole (institutional, commercial or independent/
private developer)
–
e 6th Block was created to identify whether or not content is specically aimed at young people as their target audience
and the primary users of technologies.
ere is also a space dedicated to collecting noteworthy qualitative observations that conrmed the absence of electoral
contents or were linked to specic political parties (at least directly).
4. Results
e rst point of interest from the analysis of mobile applications concerns the dierentiation between municipalities with
an app for institutional communication and those that do not. In this sense, one might believe that the number of inhabitants
determines whether a municipality has its own app. Still, the whole range of the population of the Castilian and Leonese
municipalities was divided (from 44 inhabitants in the
Riofrio de Riaza
census to 176, 418 in Burgos) into twenty sections that
vary according to the number of registered inhabitants, however, this is not always a decisive factor.
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Graph 1. Relationship between population range and percentages of municipalities with an app
5º Bloque referido a los desarrolladores, para señalar quién se ha ocupado de crear
la
app
objeto de estudio y cuál es su perfil (desarrollador institucional, comercial o
particular/independiente).
6º
Finalmente, se cre
ó
un bloque destinado a identificar la existencia o no de
contenidos específicamente dirigidos a jóvenes como principal público usuario de
las nuevas tecnologías.
A estos bloques cabe sumar un espacio dedicado a recoger observaciones reseñables de
tipo cualitativo que ha permitido confirmar la ausencia de contenidos de tipo electoralista
o vinculado a partidos políticos concretos (al menos, de forma
directa).
4. Resultados
El primer punto de interés que
resulta
del análisis de aplicaciones móviles tiene que ver
con la diferenciación entre los municipios que tienen una
app
dedicada a la comunicación
in
stitucional y los que carecen de ella. En este sentido cabría pensar que el número de
habitantes es un factor determinante para que un municipio cuente con una aplicación
propia, pero al dividir el rango absoluto de población de los municipios castellanos y
leoneses (desde los 44 habitantes censados en Riofrío de Riaza hasta los 176.418 de
Burgos) en veinte tramos que varían/aumentan con la cantidad de censados se observa
que éste no tiene por qué ser siempre un factor de
cisivo.
Gráfico I. Relación entre rango de población y porcentaje de municipios con
app
Fuente: adaptación de
Suárez-
Álvarez (2021)
De acuerdo con lo que refleja el gráfico
1
, la tendencia al alza en el porcentaje de
municipios con
app
propia según aumentan los habitantes censados no siempre responde
a un
incremento
lineal
. Como quiera que sea, se aprecia que entre las localidades con
menos de 200 habitantes sólo un 3,5% da el salto al ecosistema de los dispositivos
móviles.
Este
porcentaje
aumenta hasta el 9,09% entre los 200 y 400 censados y continúa
creciendo regularmente hasta el 40% que se desprende de los concejos con población
Source: adapted from Suárez-Álvarez (2021)
As shown in graph 1, the upward trend in the percentage of municipalities with their own apps does not always correspond to
a linear increase in the population. In any case, only 3.5% of the towns with less than 200 inhabitants form a part of the mobile
device ecosystem. is rises to 9.09% between 200 and 400 inhabitants and continues to grow steadily to 40% in towns with
between 1000 and 1200 inhabitants. e towns with between 3 000 and 4 000 inhabitants had the most signicant increase,
with 74.7%.
ere are also signicant geographic dierences depending on the classication of province of the app. From an eminently
geographic perspective. e number of mobile applications in Avila and Segovia is striking; however, although both are behind
Soria in the list of provinces with the lowest number of registered users in the Community (157, 664 in Avila and 153 47 in
Segovia). ey are the two provinces with the most resources after Valladolid.
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Graph II. Distribution of apps by provinces in 2021
entre el millar y los 1.200
vecinos
.
E
ntre
los
3.000 y los 4.000 habitantes
se
localizaría el
mayor aumento, con un porcentaje del 74,7%.
Desde una perspectiva eminentemente geográfica y acorde a la clasificación provincial
de las
apps
, se aprecian también importantes diferencias. En concreto, llama la atención
el número de aplicaciones móviles con las que cuenta
tanto
Ávila
como
Segovia, ya
que,
aunque ambas se sitúan detrás de Soria en la lista de provincias con menos empadronados
de la Comunidad (157.664 los abulenses y 153.47 los segovianos), son las dos que
proponen más recursos tras Valladolid
.
Gráfico II. Distribución de
apps
por provincias en 2021
Fuente: elaboración propia
Sin perder de vista el factor geográfico y añadiendo a la interpretación de resultados la
variable del tipo de desarrollador junto a la de proximidad entre localidades, se descubre
que los municipios con aplicaciones de comunicación institucional
tienden a colindar con
otros municipios que, al margen de la cantidad de mujeres y hombres censados, tienen
apps
ligadas
al nombre de su pueblo o ciudad. Un simple vistazo al mapa que a
continuación se presenta basta para comprobar la veracidad de la afirmación anterior,
pues únicamente cuatro de los sesenta municipios vallisoletanos con aplicación propia
(es
deci
r, el 6,7%) se encuentra
n
lejos
de otros de su misma condición; 3 de 57 en Segovia
(el 5,3%) y 4 de 35 en Ávila (el 11,4%).
Source: created by the authors
Without losing sight of the geographical factor and including the type of developer and the proximity between locations as a
variable for interpreting the results, municipalities with institutional communications tend to be adjacent to municipalities
with apps featuring the name of their city or town regardless of the number of men and women in the census.
We can verify the above statement through the map below since only four out of the sixty municipalities in Valladolid with
their own app (i.e., 6.7%) are far from others with the same status; 3 out of 57 in Segovia (5.3%) and 4 out of 35 in Avila (11.4%).
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349
Figure 3. e proximity between municipalities with their own app
Gráfico 3. Mapa de proximidad entre municipios con
app
propia
Fuente: adaptación de Suárez
-
Álvarez (2021)
Estos datos reflejan que las zonas próximas a urbes como Segovia, Salamanca
,
Burgos
y
Valladolid
son propensas a presentar un elevado número de municipios con aplicaciones
.
Incluso en aquellos casos en los que la capital no posee una
app
de comunicación
in
stitucional
propia
bajo la fórmula
común (“Nombre de la localidad + Informa”, como
ocurre en Campaspero, Serrada, Mojados, Viloria o Villanubla
–
entre otros muchos
casos
–
)
, la ciudad está rodeada de territorios que sí la tienen.
En lo referente al uso cuantitativo de las aplicaciones
resulta
posible abordarlo desde dos
enfoques
complementarios
: el empleo que le dan los ayuntamientos y la utilización que
hacen los ciudadanos. Sobre el primer punto cabe señalar que la frecuencia más habitual
de actualización de contenido (en la que se encuadra el 28,3% de la muestra) corresponde
a la generación de dos publicaciones por semana. Sobre t
al
escenario es justo apuntar que
la media de censados en municipios asociados a las aplicaciones de mayor actividad es
de 6.570
personas
, mientras que los concejos con
apps
que se
actualizan
dos veces al día
arrojan una media de 3.614 habitantes. Cerca de 2.000 vecinos (1.959)
es
el promedio
asociado
a la franja de municipios que publica información nueva cada tres días
;
1.788
para los que publican
semanalmente;
1.598 para quienes lo hacen una vez por quincena
;
1.126 para el último mes
,
y 1.067 para el último bimestre. En definitiva: n
ing
ún
municipio
que
destaque
por actividad cuenta con una población inferior a las 1.000 personas,
demostrando
que,
a mayor tamaño de la localidad
,
mayor parece ser el interés por sacar
partido a
las
aplicaciones
móviles
(al menos, en términos cuantitativos).
En cuando al enfoque referente a la utilización específica de
apps
por parte de la
ciudadanía, la presente investigación utiliza los datos sobre cifras de descargas cruzados
con datos de población. Los resultados reflejan que diez de las
apps
analizada
s tienen un
número de descargas por encima de la cantidad de
vecinos
que recoge
el
censo: Riofrío
de Riaza (44 habitantes censados), Moral de Hornuez (49), La Matilla (78), Maderuelo
(137), Cuevas del Valle (475), La Parrilla (479), Pedro Bernardo (787), Montemayor de
Source: adapted from Suárez-Álvarez (2021)
is data shows that the areas close to Segovia, Salamanca Burgos and Valladolid are likely to have many municipalities with
apps. e capital does not have its own standardised institutional communication app (“Name of the locality + Informa”, as in
Campaspero
,
Serrada
,
Mojados
,
Viloria
or
Villanubla
–among many other cases–); the city is surrounded by territories that do.
Regarding the quantitive use of the apps, we can approach them through two complementary approaches: the municipalities’
and the citizens’ use. Concerning the former, it is worth noting that the most common frequency of content updates (28.3% of
the sample) corresponds to two weekly publications. In this scenario, the average number of people registered in municipalities
with the most active applications is 6,570. In contrast, the cities that are updated twice a day have an average of 3,614
inhabitants. On average, municipalities with 2000 residents (1,959) publish new information every three days: populations
with 1 788 publish weekly; 1,598 publish fortnightly; and monthly publications for 1,126, and 1067 for the previous two months.
In short: no municipality with a population of fewer than 1000 people stands out, demonstrating that the larger the town, the
greater the interest in using mobile applications (at least quantitatively).
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As for the approach to citizens’ specic use of apps, this research uses data on download gures cross-checked with population
data. e results show that ten of the apps analysed have a higher number of downloads than the number of inhabitants in the
census: Riofrío de
Riaza
(44 inhabitants),
Moral de Hornuez
(49),
La Matilla
(78),
Maderuelo
(137),
Cuevas del Valle
(475),
La
Parrilla
(479),
Pedro Bernardo
(787),
Montemayor de Pililla
(857),
Fresno el Viejo
(878) and
Candelario
(860). ese localities
have fewer than 1000 inhabitants. In summer, the populations increase with holidaymakers and the rst four towns are part
of Segovian municipalities close to Madrid.
“DigiPalserviciosurbanos”, “Salamanca 010”, “Ponferrada Clic”, and “Lineazamora” are apps at the opposite end of the
spectrum and are from Palencia, Salamanca, Ponferrada (Leon) and Zamora. However, none of these apps is exclusive to its
municipality and has not been created by the usual developers for this type of application in Castilla y León (Bandomovil,
REGTSA, Difadi, Pixel and ATMovilidad). e three applications with the worst results (proportionally) have been developed
directly by teams from local councils.
From a qualitative perspective related to user satisfaction, in the analysis of 435 ratings for 105 apps, 85.2% received positive
opinions, 13.3% were negative, and 1.5% were neutral. us, the fact that only four apps received negative opinions suggests
that the consumer of institutional content appreciates these resources, which provide them with various informative
possibilities. ere is information in the sections on transparency and administrative procedures such as those on the app
“Ayuntamiento de Muñogalindo” or the section on citizen participation that attracts the user’s interest in “Medina 21” and
“Santa María del Páramo”- among other cases.
Part of the interest in this analysis focused on unravelling the type of information ow favoured by the apps with a view to
citizen participation: unidirectional information ow (from the council to the citizen), bidirectional (two-way communication
between the council and citizen) and multidirectional (communication between the council and citizen as well as the
opportunity to communicate between users). Contrary to expectations at the beginning of this research, no app allowing
for a multidirectional ow was found in the eldwork. More than 40% only let citizens ask the council questions or make
complaints or suggestions. us, most apps only aim to publish municipal information (57.4% of the sample), while 40.7%
allow residents registered in the municipality to send comments to the council team (mostly incidents). Moreover, ve apps
out of the total are exclusively for reporting problems to the city council.
e people from Castilla y León prefer the apps that incorporate functions for establishing two-way communication
channels among all the options since the average rating for these apps is 2.35 points out of 5 compared to 1.84 for one-way
communication. e average number of positive comments is attributed to two-way communication ow. Not surprisingly,
after analysing the comments, one concerning the app “Arenas de San Pedro Informa” (developed by Bandomovil) stands
out. Although it does not represent a generalised opinion, it does shed light on some of the users’ thoughts. e user states,
“it is a very good initiative, but I think we should count more on the citizen’s voice and open a section for complaints to stop
the misuse of the facilities. e environmental issue is notable through its absence and citizen opinion and participation”.
In addition to the above, we must highlight examples of apps with the highest quality due to their content or design. “
El
Espinar Comunica
”, developed by Bandomovil, which belongs to the Segovian municipality El Espinar, has one of the
most comprehensive menus in its category, including information about transport, telephone numbers of interest and 24-
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hour pharmacies, as well as a portal for communicating with the town hall. It also includes one of the most diverse and
exploited sections, where topics order all the public communications - from “children’s activities” to “tourism”, “forestry
agents”, “announcements”, “weather warnings”, “breakdowns”, and “banners”, among other topics. e result is optimal and
undoubtedly improves the elementary user experience that developers consider before creating the app.
e last part of the results concerns developers. We found 48 dierent proles, 40 of which operate a single app. In this
sense, Bandomovil is the undisputed leader of institutional communication apps in Castilla y León- and presumably in
Spain, since it has more than 900 apps throughout the territory- ahead of REGSTA, Pixel Innovación y Desarrollo, Inbox
Mobile, Difadi.com, Diseño y Comunicación SL and ATMovilidad. In this scenario, we can state that most apps- 87.3%- are
developed for prot. Only one usual/habitual developer, REGSTA (Collection and Tax Management of the Government of
Salamanca), falls into the “institutional” category. us, we must point out that only 15 town councils in Castilla y León
created apps independently (e Town Council of Palencia, for example, has one with tourist information and another for
reporting incidents). At the same time, “Nava del Rey” is the only app created by a specic individual for the municipality of
the same name. It is interesting to identify who worked on the project since it was veried that most apps had been created
for prot. For this purpose, the most common commercial developers were identied among the ve most prolic. As
mentioned above, Bandomovil leads the niche market in Castilla y León, as 171 city councils have contracted their services
(77% of councils have decided to pay commercial developers). Difadi.com is in second place, having created ten apps (4.4%),
followed by Pixel Innovación and ATMovilidad, creators of seven apps each. Twenty-eight dierent developers developed
the remaining 32 apps.
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Figure 4. Municipalities with apps segmented by developer and province
Gráfico 4.
Municipios con
apps
segmentadas por desarrollador y provincia
Fuente: adaptación de Suárez
-
Álvarez (2021)
Detrás de Bandomovil se halla la empresa Lemur Ideas S.L, con domicilio en la localidad
segoviana de Coca. El fundador de la compañía e
s
Miguel González Aranda y en su web
señalan que coadyuvan habitualmente con múltiples colaboradores y que se dedican a
desarrollar
apps
relacionadas con la comunicación en áreas tan diversas como la relativa
a cartas digitales para restaurantes, reservas en comercios y control de aforo,
comunicación para asociaciones parentales de colegios y solicitudes de cita previa (entre
otras funciones). La empresa se constituyó el 13 de marzo de 2017 con un capital social
de 3.000 euros y un inicio de actividad fechado a 1 de febrero de 2017.
E
s posible además
consultar las tarifas que tienen
para los ayuntamientos, que van desde los 80€ anuales
para municipios de menos de 500 habitantes hasta los 680€ para los de población superior
a 50.000 personas.
La
app
de Bandomovil presenta un diseño formal e idéntico en las 171 versiones
relacionadas con consistorios de las nueve provincias objeto de estudio, con la única
variación de la denominación del municipio que aparece en el encabezado junto a una
pequeña imagen que acostumbra a ser el escudo del concejo. En cuanto a las
funcionalidades, la principal diferencia entre propuestas reside en el flujo de
comunicación (el 64,3% de
apps
únicamente permiten la comunicación de los
ayuntamientos con la ciudadanía y no a la inversa).
Asimismo,
61
de las aplicaciones
analizadas bajo el sello de Bandomovil
incluyen la sección ‘¡Comunica!’, a través de la
cual los vecinos pueden denunciar incidencias, realizar consultas y proponer ideas al
consistorio. En lo relativo a contenidos, para f
inalizar
, se observa
un
contraste
cuantitativo
Source: adaptation from Suárez-Álvarez (2021)
Lemur Ideas S.L is behind Bandomovil, based in the Segovian town of Coca. e founder of the company is Miguel González
Aranda. He highlights on his website that they often cooperate with multiple collaborators and are dedicated to developing
apps for communicating in areas as diverse as digital restaurant menus, reservations in shops and capacity control, school
parental association communication and appointment requests (among other functions). e company was established on 13
March 2017 with a share capital of 3000 euros, and the date of the start of activity was 1 February 2017. e company’s website
also includes the rates for city councils, ranging from 80€ annually for city councils with fewer than 500 inhabitants to 680€ for
populations over 50,000.
e Bandomovil app has a formal and identical design in the 171 versions related to town councils in the nine provinces
under study. e only variation is the municipality’s name, which appears in the header next to a small image that is usually
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the town’s coat of arms. Regarding its features, the main dierence between the apps is related to the ow of communication
(64.3% of apps only allow councils to communicate with citizens and not the other way around). Likewise, 61 of the applications
analysed by Bandomovil include the “Communicate!” section, through which residents can report incidents, make queries
and propose ideas to the council. Regarding contents, there is a quantitative contrast in the information available on each app
(both the xed and updatable), with variations suggesting that this issue only depends on the use the councils want or know
how to make of the tool.
Difadi.com is a company from Burgos that has a geographic area of activity in the provinces of Palencia and Burgos. As with
Bandomovil, the distribution is identical, with a more customisable and visual design (a home page with a full-screen image
of the municipality).
Pixel Innovación (a digital marketing agency from Salamanca) has created the apps for institutional communication in its own
province-Salamanca-and has the most customisable options among those studied for this work. Its app design is one of the
most disparate among the software from the same developer and allows the content to change substantially depending on the
proposal.
Finally, ATM is a company from Zaragoza dedicated to developing apps related to tourism promotion, which markets ve of
the apps studied in this article: two for city councils, one for hotels, one for museums and another for tour operators. eir
apps (which have a more signicant presence in Valladolid, Leon, Palencia and Burgos) provide more adaptable content than
most of those from the big developers. Although all of them are related to tourism, some of them, such as the one for the
municipality of Dueñas, have quite a friendly approach, with a visual “incidents” section. Unlike Pixel apps, however, those
from this company share a virtually unchanging design- except for the background image on the main screen and the colours
of the menus-.
Two facts stand out after comparing the information on the companies. e leading developers of the apps for institutional
communication carry out their activity in Castilla y León except for ATM, and they are all SMEs with small teams. In other
words, institutional communication for mobile apps is still a minor issue (at least in Castilla y León) since it seems that almost
any company could provide this resource with impersonal touches for a small price, as mentioned in the “conclusions and
discussion”. After all, the prevailing type of developer inuences the form more (design) than the content (sort of information
provided to the user), so there are practically no sections and/or content targeted at young people as the primary users of
technologies.
5. Conclusions and discussion
is research aims to verify whether institutional communication via apps has a more signicant presence and higher quality
in municipalities with more people registered in the census, specically those with more young people. Castilla y León is a
community with a pronounced depopulation problem. It is of interest both socio-demographically and politically, to retain the
population under 35 in rural areas.to retain the population under 35 in rural areas. e eldwork has allowed us to dismiss this
idea; however, the most populated municipalities usually have more mobile apps; micro-segmentation is not usually applied
by age to contents or exchanges between the councils and residents through a bidirectional ow of communication, which is
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a factor that makes users value the tools more highly. In other words, based on the way the research questions were asked at
the beginning of this article: a single criterion of usefulness is applied when creating content for citizens, so other factors have
a more signicant inuence than the number of people under 35 registered in the municipality.
Specically, the geographic location and the proximity between towns with their own app seem to be the fundamental factor
that promotes the commitment to the type of resources this work has centred on. us, although apps from large towns are
the most used by governments (and have the highest number of downloads), we can conclude that those who promote the
tool with the institutional seal do so to avoid being compared negatively with nearby towns in this ecosystem. Furthermore,
as there is a sole institutional developer (REGSTA) we can conclude that the public’s perspective of the usefulness of the apps
is hardly exploited. ey are also characterised as not being much organised and are often based on residual initiatives. It
is essential to add that a high percentage of apps analysed (close to 90%) are developed for prot rather than as a vocation
to serve citizens within this communicative, technological and consumer context. We must warn of the risk of using tools
managed by third parties to channel communication. We must also propose new studies with declarative methods to gain in-
depth knowledge of the audience’s perceptions.
In line with what Núñez-Manzano (2017, p. 84), assuring that good public communication “is a matter of political will”, attempts
to gather complaints and suggestions should be valued so governments can take actions to improve their way of governing.
More than 30% of apps provide this option, perhaps the most interesting among those identied, as it allows citizens (especially
young people) to express themselves. Only time and future research will tell if we are talking about a usefulness that is more
concrete in facts than in electoral promises.
6. Acknowledgements
is research is found within the project
Politainment ante la fragmentación mediática: Desintermediación, engagement y
polarización
” (Reference PID2020-114193RB-I00), funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
is article has been translated into English by Sophie Phillips.
7. Specic contributions made by each author
Name and Surename
Conception and work designRaquel Quevedo Redondo
Methodology
Raquel Quevedo Redondo
Data collection and analysisRaquel Quevedo Redondo, and Salvador Gómez García
Data collection and analysisRaquel Quevedo Redondo, and Salvador Gómez García
Drafting, formatting, review, and version approvalSalvador Gómez García, and Raquel Quevedo Redondo
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9. Annexe
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Source: created by the authors