A recent article on CT Newsjunkie reported that Governor Rell uses social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with her constituents (Rell Enters the World of Social Media – Christine Stuart, March 13, 2009). The Governor’s public affairs director, Adam Jeamel, made great fanfare of the fact that Connecticut’s popular Governor tweets. The article goes on to quote a professor of Journalism from UConn who criticized the Democrats for not making similar use of technology.
The truth is that these tactics are hollow if they are not part of an overall strategy for greater transparency in government. This means providing the public with the means to communicate with those in power, not just in the Governor’s Office, but those whom she appoints and those she surrounds herself with daily. It involves creating an open forum with information about what is going on – real information. The strategy has to be about what you say and actually do and it has to engage the public in a dialogue.
It’s definitely easier to send out a message about how pleased you are that “so and so” won an election. But the electorate already knows that. What’s more interesting, and can ultimately be more engaging and educational, is to listen to what the public has to contribute. Maybe our politicians will learn something.
After all, that’s why they call it social media.
