#BTV city council embraces social media
Burlington City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to appoint twitter handles for the mayor’s office: @BTVMayor. Newly elected mayor Miro Weinberger is currently tweeting as @MiroBTV.
Here’s what the resolution said, according to the Burlington Free Press:
“THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the official Twitter handle of the Mayor of Burlington’s office shall be @BTVmayor and shall remain the property of the office (not the office holder).”
Why?
“The purpose of using this handle will be to foster a more transparent and direct dialogue between the Mayor’s Office and #BTV residents.”
The Free Press points out that it’s interesting the city council institutionalized something as inherently fleeting as social media. I agree: the way that we receive information is always in flux.
But of course it makes sense that local government is aboard the social media bandwagon. And expanding that “direct dialogue” may mean good things for government transparency.
What do you think? Are your local government officials tweeting and blogging? What effect does it have in your community? Or is it silly for a city council to decide on something like twitter handles, which may one day be hopelessly outmoded?
Tags: politics, social media, vermont
If municipal councils approve that they should have websites and email addresses, then they’re acknowledging government operates in the 21st century. Approving a Twitter handle is no different. Making elected officials more accessible is a good thing for democracy; not everyone can attend municipal council meetings.
Social media is not “inherently fleeting” but is probably not all that effective.