First Tweeting Mayor: Is The Social Media Site Work Or Play?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Did you know Luke Ravenstahl was the first Mayor of Pittsburgh to have a computer on his desk?
And now, Mayor Bill Peduto is pushing the use of digital technology further.
Peduto is on Twitter dozens of times a day, so is it work or play?
He's our first tweeting mayor. With smartphone in hand and nimble fingers, Peduto tweets about a dozen times a day – and may retweet the messages of dozens of others.
With more than 19,000 followers, the mayor says it's a new way of communicating with constituents.
"Whether snow falls or whenever people are waiting for public service, fires or traffic delays, I can immediately let 19,000 people know what's happening," said Peduto.
But it's not all city business. The mayor tweets to all fields, ideas he finds interesting -- articles that mention Pittsburgh, random thoughts and of course, the Penguins.
"A lot on hockey," Peduto said. "In fact, during playoffs and trade deadlines, I see my follower list drop significantly. And then my daily musings about people I see and the person that I am."
And unlike other public figures who have others tweets them, the mayor tweets and retweets himself, but doesn't believe it to be a distraction.
And to demonstrate how little time it takes, he took a selfie with KDKA's Andy Sheehan, which appears on his Twitter feed in a matter of seconds.
Selfie with @AndySheehankdka - after announcing @nextdoor for his excellent story on tweeting pic.twitter.com/9ub1ruz7K8
— bill peduto (@billpeduto) May 15, 2014
"Nineteen-thousand one hundred people just saw that picture of you and me and they're all disappointed," Peduto said.
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