The town hall's all a-twitter

The communications team at Swansea Council is in the process of embracing social media ... and all that entails. Tweets and video shorts are among the items now being discussed and planned at weekly news meetings.
A couple of months ago they asked me and a fresh-from-college techno-dude (Sam Nicholls aka Studio8) to report on the positives and negatives of hoisting the authority's messages onto Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and further across the blogosphere. We were delighted to do so.
What we found was a UK public sector already showing encouraging signs of moving with the times and - for this sector - relatively quickly.
Years ago it would have been that local councils didn't keep up. Photography may not have arrived in some town halls until the 1970s - and then banned again once the Pistols turned up. Indeed, in some respects, they still don't keep pace - too many council departments are still working independently of teams performing the exact same function for neighbouring authorities, for instance.
However, look at how some authorities are taking online social networking to heart and I think we're seeing innovations which some private sector media operators could learn from.
Liz Shellard, the Swansea marketing unit's web development manager is inspirational in this regard. She has a close focus on building the council’s search engine rating, achieved largely by luring increasing numbers to authority websites and existing social media platforms.
Social media, she says, is a highly effective way of getting messages to those who don’t wish to get information from the traditional media or from the council website.
Yes, it can be hugely time-consuming if not carefully managed and policed, but tomorrow's information consumer will demand bespoke, personalised services - and that's the way it's going.
Liz told me: “Let’s take them with us – let’s communicate with them how they want. In future years it will be increasingly important for Swansea Council to adapt the way we communicate to take such trends into account.”
Well said, Liz. Enjoy the ride.

More info If you'd like more detail about my Swansea Council social media report, just reply to the blog.