Lessons From a Twittering City Councilmember
By Gina Cuclis
Tiffany Renee is a Petaluma City Councilwoman elected in November 2008. She and I have been following each other on Twitter since early this year. Councilmember Renee started tweeting in Spring 2008 for her campaign.
Why Tweet?
I think Twitter can be an effective communications tool for elected officials and political candidates. It provides a vehicle for two-way communication with constituents. Constituents can get to know the official better. Twitter also provides a way for elected officials to hear from constituents who may not like attending, or can't attend, government meetings.
I asked Councilmember Renee what value she finds in using Twitter. She is also an active Facebook user.
She said: "Both of these networking tools have allowed me to uniquely connect with and meet people. I am unsure how many people I’ve met that are my constituents, but I have over 450 Facebook Friends and nearly 900 Twitter Followers from all over California and the US. Not many are on both networks. I also use LinkedIn, but much less.
"In regards to issues of council agendas, I mostly tweet informative ideas and information that I find useful in my decision-making process. I don’t do much personal reflection on council business. But I do share personal reflections on life to give my network an opportunity to know more about me and to keep it interesting (I hope). I try to write clearly, but that can be difficult in 140 characters. Occasionally I respond to other State or National political decisions like the budget or the health care debate with a bit of humor or color. I enjoy following other politicians that tweet themselves. I find those that are only tweeting for their campaign to be stale."
A sample of Councilmember Renee's tweets shows, as she said, she uses Twitter for her network to know more about her.
Councilmember Renee also said she feeds her Twitter updates to her campaign website, so that constituents not on Twitter or Facebook can see them.
Doesn't Blog
I'm an advocate of councilmembers blogging. But Councilmember Renee said she doesn't blog, because blogs tend to be opinion based content. She prefers to "remain fairly neutral on decisions until they are made."
Sonoma City Council
I've been trying to convince Sonoma City Councilwoman Laurie Gallian to get involved in the Twittersphere. My husband and I set her up with an account, but she hasn't done anything with it yet. Maybe if enough people follow her, she'll start tweeting. Currently the one other Sonoma councilmember on Twitter, Aug Sebastiani, hasn't tweeted since July 4.
What do you think about local elected officials who tweet? Do you wish those in your town did?
Why Tweet?
I think Twitter can be an effective communications tool for elected officials and political candidates. It provides a vehicle for two-way communication with constituents. Constituents can get to know the official better. Twitter also provides a way for elected officials to hear from constituents who may not like attending, or can't attend, government meetings.
I asked Councilmember Renee what value she finds in using Twitter. She is also an active Facebook user.
She said: "Both of these networking tools have allowed me to uniquely connect with and meet people. I am unsure how many people I’ve met that are my constituents, but I have over 450 Facebook Friends and nearly 900 Twitter Followers from all over California and the US. Not many are on both networks. I also use LinkedIn, but much less.
"In regards to issues of council agendas, I mostly tweet informative ideas and information that I find useful in my decision-making process. I don’t do much personal reflection on council business. But I do share personal reflections on life to give my network an opportunity to know more about me and to keep it interesting (I hope). I try to write clearly, but that can be difficult in 140 characters. Occasionally I respond to other State or National political decisions like the budget or the health care debate with a bit of humor or color. I enjoy following other politicians that tweet themselves. I find those that are only tweeting for their campaign to be stale."
A sample of Councilmember Renee's tweets shows, as she said, she uses Twitter for her network to know more about her.
Doesn't Blog
I'm an advocate of councilmembers blogging. But Councilmember Renee said she doesn't blog, because blogs tend to be opinion based content. She prefers to "remain fairly neutral on decisions until they are made."
Sonoma City Council
I've been trying to convince Sonoma City Councilwoman Laurie Gallian to get involved in the Twittersphere. My husband and I set her up with an account, but she hasn't done anything with it yet. Maybe if enough people follow her, she'll start tweeting. Currently the one other Sonoma councilmember on Twitter, Aug Sebastiani, hasn't tweeted since July 4.
What do you think about local elected officials who tweet? Do you wish those in your town did?
Posted by Gina Cuclis at 11/13/2009 1:50 PM 
Categories: Case Studies, Twitter, Social Media
Tags: Tiffany Renee Twitter Sonoma Laurie Gallian Petaluma Facebook city council
Categories: Case Studies, Twitter, Social Media
Tags: Tiffany Renee Twitter Sonoma Laurie Gallian Petaluma Facebook city council
Trackbacks
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2/17/2010 10:16 PM
BLOG.CUCLISPR.COM wrote:
By Gina Cuclis As June elections approach, 2010 has become the year Sonoma County political candidates discover Twitter. In 2008, local candidates barely knew what Twitter was. Petaluma City Councilwoman, then council candidate, Tiffany Renee was an exception. Read about how she uses Twitter.If you're a candidate, are thinking about being a candidate, or support and work on campaigns, here are five tips to help you use Twitter effectively.1) Create a Twitter account only if you plan to actively use it:Your 20-something year-old campaign coordinator may insist you be on Twitter, but do so only if it interests ... -
9/3/2010 11:09 AM
BLOG.CUCLISPR.COM wrote:
By Gina Cuclis As June elections approach, 2010 has become the year Sonoma County political candidates discover Twitter. In 2008, local candidates barely knew what Twitter was. Petaluma City Councilwoman, then council candidate, Tiffany Renee was an exception. Read about how she uses Twitter. If you're a candidate, are thinking about being a candidate, or support and work on campaigns, here are five tips to help you use Twitter effectively. 1) Create a Twitter account only if you plan to actively use ...
I believe elected city and county officials should tweet. Not necessarily to campaign, but it would be nice to see what they deal with on a daily or even weekly (at least) basis directly, rather than from some third party. I understand not wanting write about personal views on agenda items, but the agenda items themselves and those involved would be nice to know. I'm not into knowing council members personal lives but some are so... I love that the PD has climbed aboard finally and think many more people will come over in time as they realize the benefits of Twitter, hopefully they follow local politics with Twitter's list feature.
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I agree that councilmembers could tweet agenda items. They could also tweet results of actions taken at their meetings. This would be helpful, as most of what happens at council meetings in most U.S. cities never gets reported in the media.
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"What is Twitter for? As with any social network, the answer is the same: whatever you make of it. Some think that its immediacy makes it ideal for spreading news. Others find it useful to ask questions of their peers; still others, for following what people or topics they're interested in.
The BBC and the Guardian, for example, already offer Twitter services for breaking news. Measurement companies like Hitwise tend to rely on browser-based metrics to see where samples of people are going and this is what politicians can do to know what the people want and need.
- Jan Bowinia
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