[Dave Mckenna]

Nice one Ed - it could be particularly useful for signposting new items on the CfPS website

We have had a twitter account for about a month now. Our trial of this is going OK so far:

Plus points:

1. It's free and once you get going very quick and easy - not much required in terms of resource

2. Surprised how useful it is for picking up and sharing news on local government / research etc

3. We have used it to increase interest in our webpages although as hit levels go it's hardly amazon yet

4. Fascinated by the potential for online conferencing / meetings in future - particularly where you use twitter to engage people online in 'real' meetings

Challenges:

1. Not sure we have got that much engagement with real people yet - not sure how many 'followers' we should have to make it effective (we set a target of 50 by the end of the year - we now have 48)

2. Staff are blocked from seeing Twitter by default - so difficult to access important audience. However hopefully easier to sell internally as it does not come with games / photos / quizzes like facebook etc

3. Getting members involved - we have 4 councillors on twitter so far - you can see who your tweeting councillors are at http://cllrtweeps.com/

4. Keeping ourselves distinct from the council's main channel (1200 followers) - the wisdom seems to be that multiple channels are the way to go but I'm not sure people know what they are getting from us that is different to coucnil services / events etc

5. Remembering it is just one of many channels and not neglecting other ways of communicating - it enhances what you already have - it doesn't replace anything

As far as I know we are the only O&S team with a dedicated account. You can find us at: http://twitter.com/SwanseaScrutiny