Now, I understand that there might be some reticence to the use of technology in the Council Chamber; after all, change can be hard - especially if things have been done a certain way for a long time. I also understand that people might have concerns about the content that is being tweeted; for example, confidential matters or unkind things about other Councillors. However, I think - no, I am certain - that the ways in which a large percentage of the population are changing. Twitter, as a platform is becoming more and more popular as the following statistics show.
- In 2007 the average was 5,000 tweets per day.
- In 2008 that had grown to 300,000.
- In 2009 tweets per day averaged 2.5 million.
- In 2010 that number was 35 million tweets per day.
In the month of March 2011 alone, 140 million tweets are being sent on average per day.
Update: As of June 2011, users on Twitter are now averaging 200 million Tweets per day.
(Taken from http://www.marketinggum.com/twitter-statistics-2011-updated-stats/)
We live in a world where information is available instantly. We have 24 hour news, Google has changed the speed and access of any piece of information that we might need and mobile technology such as smart phones and iPads have made this even more available. So, it is no longer enough to have the local press at a meeting to put a piece in the local paper days later; people expect information NOW - so we should be giving it to them, while at the same time having the more traditional methods of communication, because, not everyone wants to use electronic means of communication.
So, I hope that this fledgling method of communication will not be shot down; I am fully aware that there are issues and would hope that these can be turned into protocols for safe electronic communication, which will allow me (and @Debbiewick) and any other Eden Councillor to tell anyone with a Twitter stream what we are doing in the Council Chamber!
