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City uses networking sites to connect with residents
(The Olathe News (Olathe, KS) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 13--Facebook isn't just for college students anymore.
Olathe's Parks and Recreation Department recently joined the Facebook craze to debut a fan page on the popular social networking site. Using photos of department events and written posts, the department hopes to connect with Olathe residents and inform them of department programming, director Kevin Corbett said.
The site, www.facebook.com, debuted in 2004 as a way for Harvard University students to connect and interact via the Web. It then expanded to include other colleges and universities, high schools and companies before becoming available to anyone aged 13 and over with a valid e-mail address.
The Web site currently has more than 150 million active users worldwide.
"It's a chance for people to get to know us in a different way," Corbett said. "We're trying to hit the different communication niches. We've had our page up for a couple weeks now and have close to 40 fans, including the mayor."
The parks page is somewhat of a pilot program for Olathe, said city spokesman Tim Danneberg. The city has for several months been exploring alternative means of reaching residents in hopes of engaging them in city government.
"We recognized we don't have the staff we once did to communicate," Danneberg said. "The council has always felt that the more closely people follow their city government and the budget process and provide input, the better we operate."
Since the popularity of Facebook has reached beyond the younger demographic, Danneberg said the city hopes to reach everyone in Olathe via these new outlets.
"We've always used traditional vehicles like working with the media, mailing our newsletter and e-mailing news briefs to subscribers," he said. "It seems originally it was younger people (using Facebook), but it's not just young kids who are using the service. I see my contemporaries, people's parents. It's been fascinating."
Corbett said the parks department is a "department of choice," unlike water or fire. Citizens have a choice in using parks programming and facilities, making the department's marketing all the more important and thus making it the city's logical first choice for a Facebook page, he said.
"We would almost say it's nontraditional, especially in government use of these types of sites," Corbett said. "We may be the first city in the area to use Facebook. I'm not sure."
Overland Park created a MySpace account to market its Camp Inferno program last year, but does not currently use either social networking site to interact with residents, nor do Lenexa or Shawnee.
Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the site has seen a significant increase in interest from government agencies, including departments of the federal government.
"We knew that if people connected through Facebook there would be a tremendous potential for it to influence all kinds of issues," Schnitt said. "Certainly social, political and civic issues would be among them.
"Facebook offers government agencies a broad and engaged audience and provides ready-made tools to share information with this audience. It enables agencies to promote interactivity and participation easily."
The parks department also has gone live with a MySpace page to promote its upcoming summer concert series. MySpace is similar to Facebook in that users create profiles to share information, connect with friends and colleagues and learn about area events.
Users can find video, photos and information about some of the artists who will perform this summer, Corbett said.
"We have one of the premiere summer concert series in the metro area and have national acts coming in," he said. "MySpace is used a lot by the music world, and our page will allow people looking for concerts and music opportunities to find out."
The city prepares to roll out another Facebook fan page for Mahaffie Farmstead & Stagecoach Stop, Corbett said. The parks department page will link to the Mahaffie page for cross-promotion.
Other departments that could soon debut on either site include development services or public works, Danneberg said.
"Residents clearly want to know about development in their area," he said. "We could see if Facebook is a way to share about projects in the city. We could obviously use a public works page to inform about road construction projects and other initiatives that impact people. We certainly don't want to limit it at this time.
"It's about finding the resources to keep (the pages) updated to make sure the information we provide is the information that people want."
In researching newer technologies and resources, the city considered Facebook, as well as MySpace, another social networking site, cost-effective ways to provide information.
Corbett said parks staff spends a minimal amount of time maintaining the page.
"The most significant time is spent building the page, but then it's just adding content," he said. "We look at it as being no different from managing the content on the city's Web site."
Facebook and MySpace accounts are free.
Corbett and Danneberg called the pages a "tool" for the city to engage residents.
"We're doing anything and everything to get people involved, to get them to understand where their taxes are going and how important their input and involvement is to us being successful," Danneberg said.
Fans of Olathe's parks department can access the page at any time.
"It's working for us 24 hours a day, without us doing anything," Corbett said. "People are up there finding us. It's just another piece of the puzzle."
To visit the Parks and Recreation Department's Facebook page, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/Olathe-KS/City-of-Olathe-Parks-and-Recreation-Depa
rtment/50685711467.
To visit Olathe's MySpace page, visit www.myspace.com/olathesummerconcertseries.
To see more of The Olathe News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.olathedailynews.com/.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Olathe News, Kan.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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