311 And Twitter: More Problems Than Solutions?
Perhaps you saw the Internet-wide hooray about San Francisco’s integration of Twitter into its existing 311 service. We certainly noticed it on sites like TechCrunch and couldn’t avoid Tweeting it ourselves (for the sweet sweet irony).
It just goes to show that SF Appeal was perhaps one step ahead of the curve with the recent series: “A Cost Benefit Analysis of Using Twitter for Public Service.” And for those keeping tract – it was funded via Spot.Us!!
Having already done some research/thinking about the topic – Jackson West chimed in at SF Appeal. An unofficial breaking news follow up to the Twitter series he produced earlier.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Twitter spokesperson Biz Stone today announced that users of the online messaging service will be able to contact 311 operators by sending text and photos in addition to phone calls. This comes at “no extra cost” said Newsom at the inevitable press conference held at the 311 call center, where he was joined by Twitter’s Biz Stone.
“City departments need to act more businesslike,” said Newsom at the press conference. If so, then why is 311 only supporting text messages via Twitter, and not simply through regular SMS and MMS messaging? It simply adds a fourth party as a layer of complexity between the citizen, phone company, and government agency. As it stands, one has to register with Twitter in order to contact 311 with a text message and receive a response in kind.
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