Why does City of Lake Worth need an “Official” Facebook page? It’s a very effective way to inform the public.

For example, take the Lake Worth Neighborhood Road Program:

“NOTICE. Please have your vehicle(s) moved from the streets and intersections . . . until paving has been completed.” Because if your vehicle is parked on a particular street, “during the stated dates of construction, it will be towed.”

Learn more about this ‘NOTICE’ for City of
Lake Worth residents below.

Another example, engaging and educating the public going forward about the important issue of changes to our City’s Historic Preservation program as was recently reported in The Lake Worth Herald. Whilst on the topic of improved ‘publicizing’ of upcoming public meetings:

     As for the [historic preservation] design guidelines, Mayor Pam Triolo said some extra effort should be made in publicizing upcoming meetings so residents can learn what’s expected.
     “We’re trying to create solutions for people and not create more problems for them,” Triolo said.
—Quote from article in Palm Beach Post datelined Dec. 7th, 2017.

For nearly a year now the City of Greenacres has been using Facebook as one of their official tools to get information out to the public. Some recent Facebook postings for residents of Greenacres:

• “There will be a Bid Opening on December 21 at 3pm in Council Chambers for Professional Surveying Services for Jog Road & Lake Worth Road Medians Bid No. 18-001”
• From Dec. 6th: “Planning Commission and Local Planning Agency Meeting tonight @ 7pm - Council Chambers”.
• News from Dec. 4th: “City Council Meeting Tonight @ 7pm - Council Chambers”.

True. The City of Lake Worth does have an official Twitter feed (and so does Greenacres as well).

But. . . Facebook and Twitter are two very, very different means of communication.

Whereas Facebook is the “Public Square” and has been for many years now, Twitter is ideally suited for instantly getting news (or correcting/clarifying news reports) to media outlets, reporters, and other ‘newsies’ on Twitter who then share that information through other means, e.g., Facebook, TV news segments and as re-written press releases later published in the Post, for example, the recent resignation of Finance Director Marie Elianor.

So. Does a lot of information sent out on Twitter, “make the news”? If you recall, for Hurricane Irma it did. But that’s the exception and not the rule for a “Tweet” from the City. Prior to and during Hurricane Irma the local press was mostly absent (except for Post reporter Joe Capozzi, for example, who re-Tweeted many of the City Tweets) but by using Twitter the City was able to get its message out to media outlets like NBC5/WPTV and CBS12/WPEC about what was happening in this City.

Yes. Twitter does work. But it depends
on the situation.

Then there’s the silly argument “some people can say bad things about Lake Worth on our Facebook page.” No they can’t. Not if you do what Greenacres did. Disable the ability to make comments. It’s as simple as that.

A Facebook page doesn’t need to be a space for public debate — not if it’s only used as a tool for getting important public information out to the public — and not promoting any particular elected official or one particular agenda.

The Rule of Thumb is: “If you don’t control your message, somebody else will.”

As far as content on a City of Lake Worth “Official” Facebook page:

• Date and times of upcoming City meetings.
• “Watch Commission meetings Live Streaming. Learn how.”
• Hurricane and storm alerts.
• “Active Outages” in Lake Worth’s Electric Utility service area.
• “Special Events”.
• Information for water/sewer customers, like what number to call in an emergency.

Now back to the “NOTICE” at the top
of this blog post:

“Please have your vehicle(s) moved from the streets and intersections . . . until paving has been completed.” Because if your vehicle is parked on a particular street, “during the stated dates of construction, it will be towed.”

This is information the City of Lake Worth should be communicating with its residents on Facebook.
Click on image to enlarge:

But instead this ‘message’ from the City ended up on Facebook page hosted by a City resident. The City of Lake Worth needs to communicate its own message. If you agree, start by contacting your elected officials.