Before the City of St. Albert brings its much-awaited voice to Facebook and Twitter next month, city administration want to know what they should be saying.
The city has set up a social media survey on its website and is asking residents for ideas about what information they’d like to access through the popular social media sites.
Communications director Maya Pungur-Buick said her department has put the survey out to better tailor the city’s use of the service to what the residents will actually appreciate.
“It helps us prioritize where we put our efforts as opposed to just a shotgun approach of putting everything out there,” she said. “We are being sensitive to what people are actually interested in.”
The survey, available on the city’s website, asks residents about their own use of Facebook and Twitter, about how they get their information about city news and events, and about what they want to see.
The city has received about 150 responses since the survey went live on Aug. 20. It will remain online until Sept. 3.
“So far we are hearing people want to hear about recreational services and cultural events,” Pungur-Buick said.
She said the survey will guide how the city initially starts using the service.
“We are going to start with things that people are telling us they want to hear and then we will go from there.”
With the city involved in so many things, the sites could lead to information overload and the city doesn’t want to turn residents away, she said.
More and more municipalities are using the service and it was time for the city to get on board, she added.
“It really is the way of the future. It is something that all municipalities are looking at or considering, if not already doing,” she said.
City council first asked administration to set up a Facebook account in January and initially asked for it to be up and running by June. But Pungur-Buick asked for a delay until Sept. 26 due to staffing shortages in her department.
Pungur-Buick said those shortages are now mostly resolved and her department can handle the workload.
“I have two communication advisor positions. I have one filled and I am hoping the other will start in September,” she said.
She said while the department was short-staffed work piled up and they are now addressing that backlog.
Coun. Cam MacKay said he is disappointed it has taken the city as long as it has to get things up and running.
He said he can understand some of the delay, but setting up an account on both social media sites is fairly simple and shouldn’t have taken this long.
“There are some reasons for a bit of a delay, but I think the time we are having now is a bit excessive,” he said.
