Creating an excellent popular financial report.

• Author: Herrmann, Keith R.
• Position: Best Practices

More Input from Citizens

The City of Bismarck, North Dakota, began using social media in April 2010 and has rapidly experienced the benefits of improved access and interaction with citizens. While Bismarck continues to use traditional methods of communication, social media has increased citizen participation and interactive communication. Social media has helped citizens genuinely engage in active, thoughtful, and spontaneous conversations that provide them with a quick method of sharing input. City leaders receive input they might not have gotten otherwise.

Social media has been particularly valuable in helping the city supply citizens with timely, critical information that they can receive via e-mail or text on their smart phones during emergency situations, even when they have been displaced or are away from their homes. Social media messages reach them no matter where they are.

Reaching New People

From using Twitter to provide updates on road conditions during snow storms to using Facebook to discuss policies, social media has been a valuable communication and customer service tool for the City of Fort Collins, Colorado. Social media has helped the city reach a broad audience beyond those who have the time and inclination to attend public meetings. Social media has allowed city officials to interact with the community in an informal manner and demonstrate that they can be responsive, professional, and human.

The city uses its social media program to communicate online content beyond its website, reaching people who might not even be aware of fcgov.com. For example, when the city launched its own YouTube channel, monthly video downloads increased ten-fold.

Fort Collins has been strategic and purposeful about what it tries to accomplish and what resources it is willing to dedicate to social media. As a result, the city has a manageable but robust program that's bolstered its communications efforts and improved citizen engagement and customer service.

Live Snow Removal Coverage

In January 2011, a massive snowstorm blanketed the Midwest and shut down schools and roads for several days. In Elgin, Illinois, the city manager decided to use Facebook and Twitter to communicate instead of more conventional communication channels. The results were amazing. From the beginning of the blizzard, the city posted nearly 100 messages about its snow removal operations, updates from the National Weather Service, Locations of the snow removal vehicles, when streets would be plowed, and when work had to be suspended due to dangerous driving conditions. Adding to the relevancy, most of the posts were made wirelessly as the city manager rode around the city in a snow removal vehicle. Elgin residents clearly appreciated being informed, leaving 50 Facebook comments and nearly 20 likes.

Budgeting Feedback

When the Town of Evanston, Illinois, was experiencing revenue shortfalls in 2011, its city manager looked to social media to engage an already active constituency and secure their feedback on how to address the budget situation. He blogged, set up RSS feeds, and used the city's Facebook and Twitter sites, and all public meetings were posted on YouTube so citizens who could not...