Last month Kable had a very interesting article on how the public sector is using Twitter: ‘The public tweet‘.
The article discusses how local and national government are slowly beginning to embrace this platform as a means of communication with their constituents.
The government’s director of digital engagement, Andrew Stott, has been posting tweets since the spring, and Whitehall now has a semi-official strategy for using the service, developed by Neil Williams, the head of corporate digital channels at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
We discussed this strategy in an earlier blog post titled Civil Servants Encouraged to use Twitter
Leeds City Council has also been using Twitter to communicate with residents, through a handful of feeds managed by its corporate communications department, and 10 or so put out more informally by teams working in specific areas. The latter group includes the council’s pest control team, and the South Leeds Hub, a community centre for young people in the city.
There is also a service named Tweetminster which allows you to follow MPs’ tweets: http://tweetminster.co.uk/.
Social media, such as twitter, is beginning to play an important role within government as a means to encourage more communication and openness. It will be interesting to see how its role will be developed in the future election. We know it played a role in the US elections. Let us know your thoughts.
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