You can set up a Facebook page in mere minutes but it's taken the City of St. Albert six months and counting.
Council passed a resolution in February to set up an official city page on the social media website to post news and events. The page was supposed to be operational by June 30 but last week council found itself voting to postpone it until Sept. 26 because staffing shortages have the project in neutral.
"I'm really anxious to get moving," said communications director Maya Pungur-Buick. "I wish we had staff here so we could get it done."
The communications branch just hired a communications advisor but needs to hire one more plus a graphic designer, Pungur-Buick said.
It's not easy for an organization like the city, with its numerous departments and facilities, to organize a social media presence, she said. It requires careful consideration of the number of pages and identifying who will do the work to update them.
"The thing about social media is people expect content on a regular basis, on a daily basis. That's a different pace of communication than we do today," she said.
For Coun. Cam MacKay, the delays are a sign that maybe the city just can't do social media.
"Maybe government shouldn't get into it if it can be done so much easier and more cost effective by a resident," he said. "The city can't do everything and it shouldn't do everything."
A local stay-at-home mom is already spreading city news through a Facebook page called The Community of St. Albert, he said.
Coun. Wes Brodhead said it's not easy for a city to adopt social media because having an effective presence requires regular content and continuous monitoring.
"Social media, if you want to manage it, it's a time-consuming operation," he said. "If you don't do it properly it can spin out of control in a heartbeat."
Roundtable
Improving communication was a hot election topic last fall and made it onto the list of priorities that council adopted in February.
Besides agreeing to start a Facebook page, council voted to hold a roundtable session with members of the community to gather input on how the city can better engage with citizens. That session drew about 30 people on June 20.
"It was pretty unanimous that we needed to move on with getting a Twitter account and a Facebook account," said Mayor Nolan Crouse. "What was important to everybody is that, when we do it, we really do it right."
