Monday, August 1, 2011

On-line Presence of Local Government Elected Officials

In times past - your local elected officials, be they Mayors, Councillors, Electoral Area Directors (Regional Districts) or even School District Trustees kept in touch with their constituents via traditional means like phone calls or "one-on-one" meetings to discuss issues in their local communities and solutions

However - with the advent of the electronic age, an increasing number of these elected officials have now turned to electronic tools to keep their constituents up to date and to have a conversation with them about on-going local issues.  Some of the tools now used include Facebook, Twitter, blogs and websites.  Use of Facebook, Twitter and a blog cost nothing to set up and as long as the elected offical maintains their online presence, it is one way to ensure people know what is going on in their local community, in case they don't wish to go through the expense to maintaining a website and the related costs

Here in BC - a significant number of politicians have begun to use a combination of either social media (Facebook, Twitter) along with either blogs/websites or just social media only(Facebook/Twitter) to keep their constituents up to speed on issues they're working on or to get input from the public.

And while the traditional tools of one-on-one contact (phone, email or in person) or letter writing will always remain to keep in touch between the local elected official and local constituent, the new electronic tools (Facebook, Twitter, blogs or websites) are now another tool available to help keep local people informed what their local government is up to

Examples In Rural BC:

Cariboo Regional District Area 'D' Director Deb Bischoff - see her website here
Cariboo Regional District Area 'G' Director/CRD Chair Al Richmond - see his website here
Cariboo Regional District Area 'L' Director Bruce Rattray - see his website here

Examples In the Metro Vancouver area:

Township of Langley Councillor Jordan Bateman - see here
Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore - see here

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