How the Government Tweets

Last September in “Ambient Awareness. The cloud killer app? ” and ” The Cloud Wins in Minneapolis at the RNC! “, I wrote about how the cloud infrastructure and microblogging could be used tactically to great effect. Although its clearly still in an early phase, some government entities are now experimenting with Twitter. In the article “Governments use Twitter for Emergency Alerts, Traffic Notices and More” pilot uses include:

• Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) updates its Twitter page with bulletins about structural fires, the number of responding firefighters, and injuries and casualties;
• Portland (Ore.) Police Department tweets about crime reports and sometimes asks the public for leads in cold cases;
• The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) updates its feed with traffic alerts and route changes for ferry vessels; and
• The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) tweets trivia questions and hypotheticals.

Even the Environment protection Agency has gotten into the act with “Greenversations“.

I guess this is part of the change we voted for 🙂