The impact of technological innovation on service delivery: social media and smartphone integration in a 311 system

Coproduction and digital service delivery are innovative strategies public managers use to improve service delivery. This article analyzes whether technological changes to coproduction systems improve effectiveness, and whether improvements come at the expense of equity. Survival analysis is used to assess how integrating Open311 and Twitter affect the time required to resolve reports in San Francisco’s 311 system. The effects vary by technology: Open311 reports are resolved faster, while Twitter reports take longer. Effectiveness gains associated with Open311, however, diminish over time. Both technologies offer improvements over traditional reporting methods for resolution of service issues in historically disadvantaged communities.