14 DAY TRIAL // Nowadays, it would be uncommon for a community to live outside the social media bubble, but a small town in Spain called Jun has taken things to a whole new level by resorting to Twitter as the principal means of communication between local authorities and the city’s inhabitants.
In an interview with The Independent, the mayor of the city, who is better known by his Twitter handle @JoseantonioJun, says that the microblogging site has helped people become more open about their concerns and has enabled him and other political figures to improve through constructive criticism.
Before the social platform came to light, the inhabitants found it hard to express their discontentment with the ones leading them, but it seems that the microblogging site has given them the impetus they needed to gain more confidence and try to sort things out.
Twitter has become the town’s bulletin board, where people can communicate directly with the administration of the city, making things run faster and more smoothly than ever before.
The microblogging site is of vital importance in the public sector, and the mayor claims that it has tightened up the relation that the officials have with the community they are serving.
Just about everyone uses Twitter
The street cleaner himself is an avid Twitter user, and he has acquired the reputation of a jokester among his numerous followers, as he sometimes posts his humorous musings online for others to enjoy and favorite.
Twitter even facilitates the communication between the town’s residents and the police department. People don’t need to call the forces or take the trouble of going to the police station when they need help with something. They can just tweet a 140-character message or a picture, and the agents, who wear their Twitter handles on their caps, will handle it from there.
In a world where most people are keen on emphasizing the negative effects that social media can have on people’s lives, this small town proves that online platforms, if used wisely, can bring people living in a community closer together.