@lwboland presenting @CityCampLDN. Image from @paul_clarke

It’s always good to see those in local government getting involved in twitter, or any new way to connect with those they represent. In the light of the recent Solace conference, attention has turned to those in local leadership and how they are trying to do things differently in the face of challenging times for local government.

Recently Chief Executive of the Greater London Authority Leo Boland helped set the tone by joining twitter after opening CityCamp London, where he discussed how using the web to its full potential can help improve Cities and engage Londoners with those that run the city and connect the communities they live in (you can watch his opening presentation here).

We also welcomed Andy Sawford’s new twitter account @Council_Chiefs, which aims to follow and encourage local leaders to get involved and understand twitter and new ways of communication. This account was inspired by the Solace conference, which saw a flurry of tweeeting activity, but found that only a third of Chief Executives knew what a hashtag was when asked. Catherine Howe from public_i was one delegate involved involved in the debate, and made some interesting points as to why Chief Executives should get involved in new ways of communicating:

“At some point I tweeted the fact that I don’t believe it’s acceptable for senior local government people not to know what a hashtag is. I was robustly refuted by someone (ironically on Twitter) who felt that technological knowledge is not a pre-requisite for leadership. Of course, in one sense they are right: we want the CEX steering the ship not servicing the engines – but in another sense this is very wrong. Our traditional structures are under increasing pressure from social change epitomised by tools like twitter and, though these changes will undoubtedly manifest more slowly than network society evangelists such as me would like, they are certainly coming faster than government’s usual pace of adaptation. Do CEX’s need to know what a hashtag is? Probably not. But they do need to know it’s important that someone in the senior team knows and in the same way that I make sure I have a really excellent accountant in my management team to compensate for my weaknesses in that area I hope they are making sure that someone who understands these new technologies and the social pressures that they can bring is close by.”

We’ll be keeping an eye out on @Council_Chiefs – heres hoping it leads to even more Chief Executives dipping their toes into the world of social media.

Are you in senior local government? Or  a local Councillor that would like to see more Council Chiefs fluent in twitter? We’d love to know your thoughts on this topic. Send us a tweet over on @TweetyHall or simply leave a comment below.