It’s taken a while, but the city is finally starting down the path toward better engaging its citizens, which is a good thing, but it’s also a path that’s hiding a few booby-traps.
Last week the city launched its official Facebook page and Twitter feed. And on Monday council laid out a plan to hold three town hall meetings a year to swap ideas with residents. And that’s not all. A plan to webcast and archive council meetings online is scheduled to roll out by November.
These are all ideas that were promised months ago but, to the frustration of some councillors, have been delayed due to staff shortages and extremely cautious planning at city hall.
This city isn’t the first to get on board with social media so there’s no credit here for being on the cutting edge. However, city council and administration should be commended for taking these steps, particularly given the multi-pronged approach, which seems like a genuine attempt to connect with the masses out there who too often remain faceless.
For this to be a success the city has to keep up its commitment to using these tools in an effective manner. Anyone who’s entered the world of social media can tell you that it’s easy to sign up for an account but much harder to use it consistently and effectively, particularly when to-do lists are long and demanding.
The city must also guard against the temptation to use these mechanisms as propaganda tools rather than true, meaningful engagement. Our federal and provincial governments have been increasingly interested in finding direct ways to feed a steady stream of “good news” stories into the world rather than relying on the news media, who always insist on asking pesky questions. St. Albert is full of astute citizens who will see through that guise if the city goes that route. Let’s hope it doesn’t and opts for a meaningful exchange of ideas instead.
Consistently monitoring and broadcasting information via social media sites is time-consuming, which already has the city’s communications staff raising the spectre of adding a full-time staffer, which had councillors feeling uneasy this week.
The city is taking the right approach by starting slow and gauging public response before ramping up the scope of this new communication regime. But this isn’t something that can or should be done halfway, and it’s not easy to turn back once the first step is taken. Clearly there will be financial costs to getting serious about communication.
This raises the question: with whom will the city be connecting through these various mechanisms? The greatest danger is that these efforts will simply provide a more convenient and solid connection with that contingent of citizens who are already engaged, while leaving the disengaged still wallowing in apathy. That would represent a lot of time and expense for no real gain.
No conversation goes anywhere when one of the parties is more interested in what’s on TV. Yes, for this to work, the city has to keep up its end, but so do residents.
The city has led the horse to a new watering hole; now it’s up to the horse to at least take a sip.
