County nears 'Tweet'-ability

The Sunshine Law requires that e-mails and other written forms of communication by public officials and employees be archived. The county wants to add social networking to the list.
by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer


One-hundred and forty characters: Some might say that's not enough to express anything, but that's all Twitter -- the fastest growing Web site on the Internet -- allows.

In fact, that first sentence exceeded Twitter's allowance by 31 characters. But, Flagler county believes the site will be useful.

"Social networking is a new phenomenon," said Carl Laundrie, public information officer for the county. "It's an effective means of communicating with a lot of people, at a very little expense."

Laundrie has spearheaded the movement to revamp the Sunshine Law, which dictates they way social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, can be used. For example, press releases could be replaced or enhances by posts and tweets instantaneously.

The Sunshine Law requires public officials, elected or appointed, to do public business in full view of the public. Meetings and notes are public record. A separate law requires officials to archive their e-mail and other correspondence for at least three years, and Laundrie wants to update that list to include Facebook and Twitter. The problem is, Facebook posts and Twitter tweets -- including those sent to public officials from residents -- would then need to become public record, as well.

Laundrie said the Internet usage law hasn't been updated or revised in 10 years, so he is hoping the county will amend it on the local event. In the plan he is working on finalizing, Laundrie said, various departments, including the Emergency Operations Center, would be responsible for managing their own Twitter accounts.

Cindy Dalecki, owner of Marketing 2 Go, a business that predominantly uses Facebook and Twitter to promote a company's brand, said that since 2007, nearly 300 million businesses have created fan pages on Facebook. In March, Facebook was the most-visited Internet site, beating out Google for the first time.

"It's social media, not social selling," Dalecki said. "You're building a relationship. It's not an advertisement."

Dalecki did allude to the fact that having a county or city page on Facebook or Twitter could be beneficial from an economic development perspective because it could show different businesses what the county or city has to offer, enticing them to relocate.

Contact Andrew O'Brien at andrew@palmcoastobserver.com.