Twittering your way to improved governance

San Francisco is setting the US standard for using technology to improve accountability.  The Mayor recently announced the launch of a 311 Call Center through Twitter. Check out the site here.  San Francisco is the first US city to roll out a major service such as this on Twitter. This could potentially be a very useful measure, if implemented thoughtfully, as it could help citizens get the information and services that they need.  More importantly, it will allow citizens to provide feedback directly to the government.

Frisco residents will be able to report a non-functioning traffic light, road maintenance needs, or receive information on what the city government is doing through Twitter.

This idea should be welcomed by citizens who had to call 311 before and wait until they reached an operator.  Citizens will need to get on Twitter to be able to access these services. By clicking on a button, they will be establishing a two-way communication channel which can be used to send direct (private) messages to SF311. Customer Service Representatives are said to be available 24 hours a day,   Tweets can be used to help with Street Cleaning, Graffiti Removal, Pothole and Sidewalk Defects, Abandoned Vehicles, City Garbage Can Maintenance, Department Information (office hours, location, phone numbers) and more.

I had mentioned the need in e-government to move beyond services in a previous blog.  Dani Kaufmann has often blogged before about the capacity of Web 3.0 to empower people, and Alfredo, more recently about the need for using Web 2.0 for participation. 

San Francisco's latest attempt to utilize technology for improved services is an excellent example of how one can use Web 2.0 at the municipal level for achieving improved governance, and going beyond the simple provision of services, even if it is just to provide a stronger feedback loop between the government and the citizens.  Of course it is too early to declare victory, as we still need to see if these laudable objectives will actually be implemented.

All the same, on paper at least, this already looks like a huge improvement over calling 311 because:

1. City services can become more transparent: Technically you are able comment on a tweet, and this should be encouraged - although in the San Francisco case it looks like tweets would be private.  With a public tweet, if you request a road to be cleaned up and no one has done it, you can comment back in, and hundreds of others who are following the tweet will see that it has not been done.  This is exactly the kind of transparency that is needed.
2. Information is instant: You don't have to go to a website, you don't have to call, you don't have to wait in line.  You can get the information instantly on your cell phone or email and if you have a comment to make you can do it right away.
3. Creation of virtual communities can improve governance: San Francisco is, already a community, but not all residents are able to communicate with each other on issues of mutual interest.  The use of Twitter and Social Networking tools can help strengthen the community by creating additional virtual communities based on interests, and energizing existing networks.  The success of these communities will be helped by the fact that Twitter works well with mobile technology.  Not everyone has a computer but most people have cell phones.
4. Transparency can lead to improve accountability: If Twitter based service requests take off, we will have increased accountability of public officials. Information will be collected on the services that were requested, and what the city officials did about it.  This could spark increased community involvement, and incentivize public officials to make good on their promises.
5. Participation can improve governance:  Citizens can be involved in the running of the city.  When you have to chance to do be a participant in the governance process, it makes a difference in how you view the city.  It becomes "your" city, and you take better care of it.  This improves governance.

Other local governments should consider Twitter or similar Web 2.0 tool to help improve transparency, accountability and participation.  They will get the much needed feedback on their services, and will be able to provide information about the city in a much more efficient way to a larger section of the populace.