Cities and Twitter; Accounts and Followers for the 50 Most Populous US Cities

Twitter has solidified itself not only as a social media platform for personal communication, but as a way to communicate news quickly and effectively. Most municipalities across the United States have followed suit, creating their own Twitter handles to disseminate information. Most cities use Twitter to communicate official press releases, city services, special events, or items passed by each city's council or governing body.

Twitter gives residents the ability to interact with their city officials easier than before. Unfortunately, there is a veil of secrecy that can still exist with Twitter accounts. It's certainly not the same as calling or actually visiting an official or department within a local government. But Twitter can provide another way for cities and residents to join in on conversations about what is happening within city limits. Given the limited characters in Twitter's platform, conversation between cities or officials and residents is normally informal and more approachable than conversation that might take place at a council meeting.

Some have even suggested that we may be able to use data from social media, specifically Twitter, to better plan our cities. Justin Hollander, director of Tufts University Urban Attitudes Lab, says that social media provides us "key words and sentiments about civic issues, in order to learn more about what people think about their cities, and how policy can respond."

Using the City of San Francisco's 311 department as an example, a blog from the World Bank website (written by Tanya Gupta and Dr. Abir Qasem) lists five reasons why Twitter has advantages over phone calls or written citizen inquiries:

1. City services can become more transparent.
2. Information is instant: You don't have to go to a website, you don't have to call, you don't have to wait in line; if you have a comment to make you can do it right away.
3. Creation of virtual communities can improve governance.
4. Transparency can lead to improved accountability of public officials and departments .
5. Participation can improve governance; when you have a chance to be a participant in the governance process, it makes a difference in how you view the city.