<p>This paper empirically investigates the key factors influencing citizens’ attitudes and intentions to participate in government social media accounts such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) during a crisis. A two-phase approach of structural equation modelling and artificial neural networks was used to analyse survey data of Indian citizens. It enables a detailed examination of the relationships between information support, subjective norms, information source preference, e-government usage, perceived responsiveness of government social media, attitudes, and engagement intentions. Results show that informational support, information source preference and subjective norms positively affect attitudes towards government social media accounts (GSMA). Perceived responsiveness does not directly impact participation intentions but enhances the information source preference of GSMA during a crisis. Positive attitudes and past e-government usage strongly drive participation intentions, closely related to actual engagement behaviour. The findings are expected to offer valuable insights for public administrators, policymakers, disaster management and relief agencies, and influential leaders to enhance their digital communication strategies, especially during a crisis. Future research should acknowledge the limitations of the study by expanding to diverse international contexts to validate and generalise findings. Additionally, incorporating qualitative insights and exploring variables such as cultural factors, media literacy, and the role of influencers could enhance the understanding of citizen engagement dynamics. This paper fulfils an identified need to make government social media more engaging and increase citizen participation during a crisis.</p>