Published in the January 18, 2017 edition
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
LYNNFIELD — The growing popularity of social media has town officials looking to catch the wave.
A discussion by the selectmen on updates currently being made to the town’s website to include more user-friendly searchable databases of town financial records with the addition of new Munis software led to a broader discussion on the increasing role of social media in civic life.
Selectman Dick Dalton is an advocate of getting Town Hall on board with this new reality, stating it has been noted by some observers that what is really meant by the recent calls for “transparency” in government driven by a younger, technically savvy generation is “accessibility.” And more often than not, “accessibility” translates into obtaining their information in an electronic format, he said.
The selectmen all acknowledged at the Jan. 9 board meeting that town officials like themselves must also be mindful of the fine line that they cannot cross between being “accessible” to the public and the potential for posts and discussions of public business that could be considered deliberations which skirt the state’s Open Meeting Law requirements.
Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford noted that they should begin developing a policy that covers the essentials of who is given access to send out tweets or make posts to Facebook pages on behalf of the town.
T.A. Jim Boudreau said that the town has a Twitter account under his name and he has about two or three followers. “It’s mine. Dick (Dalton) follows me. I’m not sure if Mr. Barrett wants me to upgrade my Twitter game to be quite as active as the president-elect’s,” he joked.
Boudreau said several town departments also have their own Facebook pages. “The issue is who gets to post on them, what gets posted and when does it get posted,” Boudreau said, adding much of what appears on these Facebook pages also gets posted to the town’s website.
“I know people don’t want to go to a website; they want it to pop up on their Facebook page. But we put a lot of these notifications on the webpage,” he said.
Some of Boudreau’s recent posts have been mundane, such as street closures, he said. “It’s easy to have a social media presence, but who’s going to update it? Who’s going to keep it relevant?” Boudreau asked.
Dalton said if the social media policy “is developed correctly” the responsibility should not fall in the lap of the T.A. or his assistant. “The easiest way for it to become burdened down and an administrative headache is the T.A. signing off on everything,” he said, recommending that each department head maintain the responsibility.
Boudreau said the usage policy must be “very tight so they know specifically what’s allowed, what’s not.”
