County may dive into social media

@washingtoncounty has something to tell you.

Or at least, that could be the case in a month or two if the Washington County Board of Commissioners approves a number of pilot programs for county departments to enter the social media scene.

"For a while, the tendency was to stick our heads in the sand, but the reality is there's a growing demand by society to have more interaction," Molly O'Rourke, the county's deputy administrator, told commissioners in a workshop recently.

Commissioners considered a draft policy on use of Web-based social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, at the county level. O'Rourke says her department is collecting requests for pilot programs and will bring them before the board for approval.

County staff say the social media accounts could be used to remind commuters of road construction or raise awareness for park events. They point to Hennepin County, which currently uses Facebook and Twitter to announce snow emergencies. Commissioners also see social media as a way to field questions about city projects and serve up answers in real time.

Nearby Anoka and Ramsey counties both already use various social media accounts.

Art Coulson, director of communications for Ramsey County, is the man behind the curtain on a number of accounts, such as the county's Facebook page.

Ramsey County started its Twitter feed during the Republican National Convention in August 2008, he said, as a backup channel of communications. "These conversations are happening already," Coulson said. "We need to go where they're happening."

Washington County Commissioner Lisa Weik already communicates with her constituents in Woodbury using Twitter and Facebook. She said she posts her committee schedules to both accounts and responds to questions.

Weik says she sees Washington County adding accounts for different departments, like public works or the library, to communicate and add transparency.

A final decision about social media practices is at least a month away, but Commissioner Gary Kriesel worries about anonymous posts and the perception the board is being wasteful with county resources. "I certainly don't want people to think we've hired people to sit around and tweet," Kriesel said, noting the cutbacks Washington County has undergone in recent years.

He also said he doesn't want to see the volatility that can be found in the comment sections of online newspapers brought to a site hosted by the county. Kriesel says he sees social media as a great tool for outgoing information from the county.

But experts warn against such one-way communications via social media.

"It's more frustrating for people to have questions that go unanswered than for an organization not to have a Facebook page at all," said Heather LaMarre, a professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota, whose research focuses on social media.

Social media usage by government officials often crosses the realms of customer service and public relations, so it takes committed manpower, LaMarre said. "This becomes a hard thing in a recession economy for a government to find the resources to do."

In Washington County, O'Rourke said her office is trying to educate county staff on how to use social media tools. It also is collecting staff requests for pilot programs, which will include how much time workers expect to dedicate and how they will measure success.

Statistics on social media use in government aren't largely tracked, but Coulson, of Ramsey County, puts it simply: "It's a success if we engage one citizen we wouldn't have engaged otherwise... And we know we're reaching more than that."

Emma L. Carew • 612-673-4154