Naju Mayor Kang In-gyu Ranks First in Online Information Volume for 2 Consecutive Years

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] Naju City in Jeollanam-do announced on the 1st that Mayor Kang In-gyu ranked first by a wide margin in the online information volume survey conducted by a big data analysis agency among city and county heads in the province during the first half of this year, which was severely impacted by COVID-19.

The big data analysis agency, "Global Big Data Research Institute" (Director Kim Dasom), surveyed the information volume of a total of 23 officials from the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions from last October to April of this year, including 2 metropolitan heads, 5 mayors, and 16 county heads (excluding district heads and Hampyeong County head).

The channels surveyed for information volume included news, communities, blogs, cafes, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, KakaoStory, Knowledge iN, companies/organizations, and government/public sectors.

During the survey period, Mayor Kang recorded a total online information volume of 20,849 cases, ranking first among the five city governments in the province.

Previously, the county ranked first with 6,975 cases in the same survey conducted from July to September last year (Q3), and from then until April of this year, it once again achieved first place in information volume over seven months.

Looking solely at the information volume figures, it is the top rank among all 21 city and county governments excluding Hampyeong County, which held a by-election in April.

Through this, Mayor Kang solidified his position as the strongest figure in municipal promotion, reflecting the level of communication with citizens and the interest in local governments on various portal sites and SNS platforms online.

According to the survey results, following Mayor Kang with 20,849 cases were Mayor Kwon Oh-bong of Yeosu (20,076 cases), County Head Koo Choong-gon of Hwasun (16,451 cases), Mayor Heo Seok of Suncheon (16,195 cases), and County Head Kim Joon-sung of Yeonggwang (15,235 cases), making up the top five.

The city also showed an overwhelming share of information volume relative to the population proportion among the five cities in the province.

According to the Statistics Korea KOSIS index, as of April, the city’s population was 114,380, the smallest among the five cities in Jeonnam (Naju, Mokpo, Yeosu, Suncheon, Gwangyang).

Despite being only 40.61% of Yeosu City’s population, which is the largest in the province at 281,605, Naju recorded the highest information volume rank, showing the highest information share relative to population.

Big Data News wrote in an article on the 7th of last month, “Among the basic local government heads in Jeonnam, Mayor Kang ranked first, showing the most active communication with residents,” and “(According to the research institute official) during the spread of COVID-19, local heads in Gwangju and Jeonnam actively engaged in quarantine and resident support, resulting in the lowest number of confirmed cases nationwide.”

The city interprets this result as a success of thorough quarantine management and multifaceted policy promotion to overcome the economic crisis amid the COVID-19 situation that struck hard in the first half of this year.

They also focus on systematic promotional management to provide timely and rapid information by checking the number of related press releases and SNS posts daily regarding COVID-19 response status.

In particular, through the “Regional Economic Countermeasures Headquarters” led by Mayor Kang, they inspect policies in fields such as livelihood stabilization, economic industry, and living SOC every Monday and distribute press releases on implementation results.

The city newsletter issued in April was also organized as a COVID-19 special edition, covering ▲promotion of screening clinic operations ▲agricultural product mutual weekend market ▲COVID-19 overcoming sharing (donation) status, attracting attention.

Mayor Kang said, “The importance of municipal promotion for forming trust and bonds with 120,000 citizens during the 7th elected term and for citizens’ right to know through accurate information provision cannot be overemphasized,” adding, “We will continue to do our best in promoting beneficial policies that guarantee citizens’ happiness and safety in daily life, including economic support benefits to overcome the crisis amid the COVID-19 situation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.