SOCIAL MEDIA AND PLAIN LANGUAGE AS TOOLS TO PROMOTE TRANSPARENCY AND SOCIAL CONTROL AT UFRN
public administration; transparency; social control; plaine language; information design; social media.
The interconnection between Public Administration, transparency, and social control is crucial for promoting accountability and strengthening democracy. Social control, represented by the active involvement of citizens, contributes to transparent governance through access to relevant information. For this, information needs to be made available clearly and through appropriate channels. In this sense, the present work aims to develop guidelines for enhancing the dissemination of budgetary and financial information of UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte) through social media, using plain language and information design. The specific objectives are as follows: to analyze the current state of the dissemination of budgetary and financial information at UFRN through the transparency portal and social media; to evaluate whether the dissemination of budgetary and financial information follows good practices of plain language; and, lastly, to define the characteristics of financial and budgetary information according to the principles of plain language and information design to establish guidelines for application in institutional social media. By strengthening social control, this research fills a gap scientifically, generating theoretical and practical knowledge, aiming to contribute to a stronger and more innovative institution, excelling in administration and governance. To achieve these objectives, an exploratory and descriptive research was conducted, using bibliographic and documentary research to systematize literature on the subject and evaluate the financial and budgetary information available on the UFRN Transparency Portal. The evaluation of the Portal's information followed the guidelines of the Plain Language Guide for Public Service Presentation concerning the application of plain language and information design. After the evaluation, guidelines were created for disseminating this financial and budgetary information through institutional social media profiles, following the recommendations of the Guide. As a result of this analysis, it was found that the Transparency Portal meets some criteria related to plain language and information design while failing in others. Based on this, guidelines were developed for disseminating this information through the institutional Instagram profile, providing guidance on information design, text writing, appearance, graph design, among other aspects. It is concluded that adopting plain language and information design in communications via social media, such as Instagram, will make this information clearer and more accessible, promoting greater engagement and participation from the academic community and the general public in social control.