Chicago Tribune reporter Mary Schmich poses a question in her column today, citing San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Newark Mayor Cory Booker:
Should Mayor Richard Daley tweet?
Within the article, there is a telling comment by Paul Green, the director of Roosevelt University’s Institute for Politics. Quoting Mary:
Tweets, says Green, who does not tweet, could turn into ammunition for the mayor’s enemies. And why would Daley need to tweet, he asks, when he has press conferences?
I guess Paul doesn’t see the purpose of the White House tweeting either, eh?
To be fair, he’s not alone. Washington Post columnist Chris Cillizza shared similar sentiments this week that politicians should not tweet, though Chris’ point is one should think before tweeting; else emotional instincts could lead to trouble.
Reading Mary’s article, I noticed she neither linked to, nor shared snapshots, of Booker’s or Newsom’s Twitter updates. That’s where I come in, illustrating 11 mayors and screen shots of their last five tweets. If you are a mayor or other municipal official and considering whether Twitter is a proper social media tool to pursue, have a look:
Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, California:
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey:
Newark Mayor Cory Booker
Mayor Mufi Hannemann of Honolulu, Hawaii:
Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann
Mayor Kathy Taylor of Tulsa, Oklahoma:
Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor
Mayor Jim Byard Jr. of Prattville, Alabama:
Prattville Mayor Jim Byard Jr.
Mayor Percival Brown of Bluff City, Ohio:
Mayor Percival Brown
Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis, Minnesota:
Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak
Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix, Arizona:
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon
Mayor Rob Burton of Oakville, Ontario:
Oakville Mayor Rob Burton
Mayor David Miller of Toronto, Ontario:
Toronto Mayor David Miller
Mayor Sam Adams of Portland, Oregon:
Portland Mayor Sam Adams
It’s clear to me that some mayors are tweeting personally, and others have staff members who ghost for them. If you look at the pronouns and the capitalization, you can guess who’s authentic and who’s merely transparent.
Mayors Phil Gordon, David Miller, and Cory Booker are clearly self-tweeting, whereas Sam Adams is not; Gavin Newsom is a mystery and I wouldn’t be surprised if the tweets are a mix of he and his staff.
In any case, these 11 mayors represent a small sample of mayors on Twitter. Tune in next week for similar lists in other categories. Who’s your favorite tweeting mayor or other elected leader?
Related posts:
- 10 Twitter Users Share Why They Use Twitter
- How to March in the #FollowFriday Twitter Parade
- How Unfollowing May Increase Twitter Productivity
Comments:
Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
978-558-0008
ConvoTrack
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
It does help to occasionally RT and also to not completely ignore @ responses IMO. Helps the ’social’ aspect of socmed!
New from paul canning: The park that’s in the sky
Precisely what I’ve been saying about Barack Obama during the campaign…
I completely agree with Paul. The point of differentiation for Twitter is neither “because it’s what the cool kids are doing” nor “it’s the quick and easy way for me to send messages out.” Twitter’s strength is the ability it provides for its users to create direct, two-way, interactive communications.
Out of the examples you’ve given here, only Mayor Rybak and Mayor Burton bother @replying to tweets. That’s too bad and clearly a missed opportunity. The others are all neglecting a chance to connect directly with their constituents without the filter of the media (something Mayor Daley rails against CONSTANTLY at his press conferences, by the way). I am not advocating that they become full-time 24-hour Twitter’ers. But it wouldn’t hurt to at least choose 1-2 tweets to @reply to at least give the impression you’re listening. Even President Obama reads 10 pieces of mail sent to the White House by citizens selected by his staff every day.
Bottom line, social media is about getting social. That means dialogue, not monologue. Frankly, if all you really want is one-to-many broadcast capability, there are services far more efficient than Twitter.
Twitter is not that well known in my country yet so I don’t think that Mayors from the Philippines would ever used it.
Friendster is the big thing on my country.
New from Diabetis: A type 2 diabetis
Check out Atlanta city council member @kwanzahall
Some of the above mayors looked interesting some not. I think the biggest danger is to allow the tweets to become just another media fire hose. I’m not sure how useful it would be as a two way communication tool however, a bit kludgy and quickly back to needing help reading all the messages. I liked the flow when it felt like the mayor was providing a bit of direction and focus relevant to the city – ‘join me here’ type stuff.
New from Fred H Schlegel: Abandon Logic, Create Then Verify!
You say two-way communication; I say constituent services. Perhaps not the mayor, but his staff?
Actually I do tweet myself. A few tweets are added by staff but 90 percent are from me.
Sam
I’m giving a presentation next week at the Assn. of Washington Cities meeting to other local elected officials, Ari, and by coincidence I was going to look for ‘best practices’ today. So these examples are going to come in real handy. Thank you!
As a followup, is anyone seeing a two-way exchange going on via Twitter or FB pages? Has anyone seen cities where their local elected officials and citizens are going back in forth in a way that should be held out as a model? I Tweet as a councilman and there’s very little voter feedback, but that could just be where I am.
New from Walter Neary: Mixing Fact and Opinion
I never realized that some many politicians do this. I had never heard of it until I heard President Obama was doing it!? I wonder if these other politicians started doing it a s a result of Obama’s use of it?
As was stated above, I can see how it might be well used for two-way communication, but I can also see how it might be used just as a “propaganda machine”!
New from Darvin @ Ionic Air Purifiers: Ozone Air Purifier – Warning!