Express & Star

Twitter training on way for Wolverhampton councillors

Councillors will be taking to social media to gauge public opinion over ambitious regeneration plans.

Published

Wolverhampton City Council bosses will discuss arranging social media training for councillors to make them easier to contact and find out their constituents' views under the First Impressions for the City initiative.

This is part of creating a greater Wolverhampton 'offer', a term used to describe the range of facilities available in the city and the work being done in line with the initiative to make it a more attractive option to residents, business and visitors.

Under the plans, to be discussed on Wednesday, the council will either arrange appropriate social media training for councillors or share published guidance on how best to utilise Facebook and Twitter.

Priority would be given to supporting and advising councillors who already use social media as a way to engage with the public or have shown a keen interest in doing so.

Fourteen councillors in the city already use their own Twitter pages and some have found it to be a great outlet for discussing issues with constituents.

Councillor Phil Bateman, who has 501 likes on his Facebook page and 1,000 Twitter followers, said: "I think we would be crazy as an authority to ignore the relentless march of social media. It plays a huge part in the way people connect in the modern world."

The plans would also see a discussion forum set up, similar to one brought in by Dudley Council. The aim of the forum would be to provide a space to discuss local issues or future plans relating to the regeneration of the city or improving the current 'offer'.

In January, Dudley Council held a public meeting live on Facebook. The discussion, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, received more than 780 views and dozens of comments.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.