Published on:
23
September 2011
Ever wondered what your council does in a day? You will soon have the chance to find out.
Clackmannanshire Council is to take part in a 24-hour Twitter event where councils from across Scotland will tweet about the services they provide. The event, called What We Do, is designed to raise awareness about the huge range of services provided by councils to people across the country.
The event will take place from noon on Tuesday September 27, to noon on Wednesday September 28. Clackmannanshire Council's Twitter followers will get a unique view of the daily scope of council activities as diverse as road repairs, nurseries and trading standards.
The council already has around 1,000 followers on its main Twitter feed, @ClacksCouncil. It's one way we have of informing residents about our services. It's also where we can announce urgent information, such as road and school closures, and it was highly effective during the severe weather last winter.
Twitter is a micro-blogging social network where users can post tweets of up to 140 characters. These often contain links to other content such as website pages and photographs.
People who do not already have a Twitter account can find out more about it and sign up (it's free) at www.twitter.com/about. On the day, all the councils taking part will be using a specific hashtag (#whatwedo) to group their tweets together.
Councillor Bobby McGill, depute leader of Clackmannanshire Council, said: "We want to show people the huge range of services councils deliver, which they may not have thought about. If you don't make use of the services directly, you may not know that we provide elderly care, nursery education, housing repairs for our tenants and so much more. In the current financial climate, there are so many essential services we have to work to protect.
"Councils provide literally hundreds of services around the clock, 365 days a year, and this event will give service users a chance to see one day in the life of a council. Twitter 24 will show residents how hard our staff work behind the scenes to support people in Clackmannanshire."
Chief executive Elaine McPherson added: "Social networks like Twitter have become increasing popular as an instant way for us to connect with people. We hope people will let us know what they think on the day so that we can take their feedback on board."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1) What We Do is a national Twitter campaign with 29 councils participating. From noon on Tuesday September 27 to noon on September 28 councils will tweet about their services using the hashtag #whatwedo.
2) People without a Twitter account can still follow what's happening by visiting www.twitter.com/nlcpeople.