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City of Philadelphia Moves To Improve Its Position In Use of Social Media

By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new survey ranks Philadelphia city government seventh among major cities in its use of social media to reach residents.

Not satisfied with the status quo, the Nutter administration plans a bigger push in that direction.

The mayor tweets regularly about his comings and goings, and his director of communications, Desiree Peterkin-Bell, says that's just the beginning.

"There's the police department, you have the managing director's office, you have Philly 311, you have Parks and Rec(reation), all of these departments are using social media in their own creative way to inform constituents about what's happening, and to connect with folks," she said today.

Peterkin-Bell says that in lean budget times social media are a cost-effective way for Philadelphia government to reach out to residents.

The survey by the University of Illinois originally placed the city at ninth.  But Peterkin-Bell says the mayor himself found an error in the study's math and it has now been revised to put Philadelphia in seventh place.

 

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