San Francisco, CA - In an effort to foster more civic collaboration and connectivity with constituents, Mayor Newsom today
announced
a first of its kind application that allows citizens to access the City’s
311 Call Center
through
Twitter
, a social networking service. Instead of making a phone call, members of the public can send a short message called a "tweet" to alert the city about a pothole, or simply find out about the City’s green initiatives.
"I’m very excited that San Francisco is the first major City to roll out an application of this magnitude on Twitter," said Newsom. "We are changing the way cities connect with their government."
Twitter is a social networking service that can be used with ease on both PCs and mobile devices. Because it limits users to very short messages of 140 characters or less, it has become one of the largest platforms in the world for sharing real-time data. Via Twitter, the City will receive real-time reports on the needs of specific city services and depending on the device, users can accompany their tweet with a photograph for added clarification.
To be able to "tweet" into the SF 311 call center, users must go to
sftwitter.sfgov.org
. and click on "Follow Me." Users will then receive an email and/or direct message from the call center with the response, "How can I help you?" Users who do not have a twitter account will be asked to register with Twitter.
The idea for this new application developed during a meeting with Mayor Newsom and Twitter founder Biz Stone and Twitter CEO Evan Williams. During that meeting the Mayor received a "tweet" from a citizen regarding a pothole. As a follow-up, Mayor Newsom directed the Department of Technology to brainstorm on how the City could use Twitter’s unique platform to create a two-way form of communication with constituents.
"Mayor Newsom has always been in the forefront of emerging technologies," says San Francisco’s CIO Chris Vein. "We saw Twitter as a viable communication tool that opens up new ways to connect with our constituents."
"The new Twitter service expands the access to city services as the public can now call 311, use the online portal at
www.sfgov.org/311
or report issues through Tweets," said Nancy Alfaro, Director of 311. Alfaro also reports that "sample Tweets" of the most requested services have been posted online so that customers can be sure to include the information needed to address their issues.
The 311 Customer Service Center, which launched in March 2007, has received over 5 million calls and serves callers in more than 176 languages. To interact with SF311 go to
www.sftwitter.sfgov.org
. You can also follow 311 on Twitter
@SF311
.
As seen on SFgov's website:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/mayor_index.asp?id=105288