Title
Village Use of Twitter
History
On February 8, 2010, the Community Events and Outreach Committee discussed the potential use of Twitter and the item was referred to the Village Board for approval. Staff requests authorization to initiate the use of Twitter to communicate residential reminders, promote Village sponsored events and activities and to issue public alerts. Twitter is a free service to which people subscribe to receive quick messages from individuals and organizations.
When this item went to the Outreach Committee, staff originally proposed that “Tweets” for all village departments - with the exception of the Police Department - go through Media Relations so that daily messages can be issued and managed. After meeting with the Media Relations and IT staff, the approach we recommend is to designate approximately three primary staff who will be authorized to post "tweets" through the Village's Twitter page. The "tweets" have a limited number of characters therefore they will reference information that can be found on the Village's website.
The original motion from the Committee designated just one department as the outlet for "tweets", however it is more practical to handle this much the same way the "notify-me" function works for the website. This technology will be used as one-way communication, like "notify-me", eliminating the possibility of "social chatter" and unauthorized posts that could appear on the official Twitter page of the Village.
Financial Impact
None
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to approve the use of Twitter by authorized Village staff as a tool for communicating important reminders and notifications to those who subscribe.