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Wednesday
Apr092014

could twitter be a weekly voice for local government?

Could a Twitter account passed between local government people help tell the story of their sector? One switched-on comms person thinks it could.

 

In December 2011, Sweden launched what it called 'the world's most democratic Twitter experiment' when the Twitter account @Sweden was born.

If you're not already a follower I can highly recommend that you check it out.

Basically, a new Swede takes over the country's official Twitter account @sweden every week, sharing their daily experiences and opinions and generally celebrating their nation.

This morning a tweet from @danslee alerted me to a similar account: @FarmersOfTheUK 

Basically, a new farmer takes over the account every week and... you get the idea.

Anyway it got me thinking (not an easy thing to do before my first coffee of the day)

Would there be any appetite for a local government version? I know of plenty of people across the UK who celebrate, debate and generally live local government on a daily basis, so surely there would be no shortage of potential folk to run the account.

We could ask everyone from people working across a range of services to chief officers and even elected members to take their turn. 

Who knows, it might offer interesting insights into the day-to-day working of the endlessly varied world of local government.

Geoff Coleman is press officer at Birmingham City Council.

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Reader Comments (9)

Hi, really love this idea and would be great to get involved. In Shropshire I started something similar on a much smaller scale and have done #meetthemanagers and #meetthebinman amongst others:https://storify.com/shropgov . I definitely think there would be a following for this just based on all the positive feedback we have had in Shropshire. I'm excited, let's do it!!

April 10, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterLorna Perry

This is a great idea! I know there'd be officers and elected members at my authority (I'm PR Officer at Maidstone Borough Council) who'd be really enthusiastic about taking part - myself included!

April 10, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterLouise Smith

The Church of England is doing something similar too - check out @OurCofE.

April 10, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterSam Markey

Thanks to everyone for the positive response to this idea. I'll work up a proposal for how it would work over the weekend. If people want to suggest individuals to run the account for a week, let me know.
I think it's important to make the list as wide as possible and make sure it's not just a comms thing.
Any thoughts on the account name?

April 10, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterGeoff Coleman

Great work, Geoff.

And there has been some interest from Brussels to get involved tonight too.

This can fly

Darren

April 10, 2014 | Registered CommenterDarren Caveney

Hello all.

Quick update: I've sent the lovely people at comms2point0 a second post, which they plan to publish next week (probably Monday)

Then we can get cracking.

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterGeoff Coleman

Fab, looking forward to it! Sorry, meant to email you a couple of ideas for people to take part - we've got Environmental Enforcement, Comms, Web/Customer Service and possibly Museum staff who'd be interested, and I'm sure there'd be others too. We also have a couple of councillors who are very keen on Twitter, so after the election's out the way that could be explored too! Happy to help in any way I can to get this going :)

April 16, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterLouise Smith

Hey Geoff

Great and thanks for progressing this. There seems to be plenty of love in the room for your idea.

Is it worth holding your follow-up post until Tuesday? (Bank Holiday Monday will be a bit quieter traffic-wise I suspect)

cheers

Darren

April 16, 2014 | Registered CommenterDarren Caveney

I think this is potentially a great idea, providing it provides genuine insight into the challenges of local government and spreads positive stories.

As a word of caution. There's a @PeopleofLeeds account which I was initially enthusiastic about, but then had to stop following when, one week, it was taken over by somebody who spent the whole week gushing about boy bands, and I have never gone back.

April 17, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJohn Popham

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