When it comes to social media use, communities in Northeastern Ontario don’t rank up well against the rest of the province.
However, Timmins, Cochrane and Smooth Rock Falls were among some of the top in our region. Cochrane’s Mayor Peter Politis says all communities need to have that form of communication with residents.
Only half of communities in the Northeast are online and Politis says it could be because they don’t want all the negative feedback. Politis encourages open discussion on social media and says there’s no better way to communicate with residents. He says by using social media you really get to know the people living in your community.
He adds that when there’s something in town residents don’t like they’re more likely to post about those problems online and if the town doesn’t see it, they can’t do anything to help.
Using social media gives municipalities the opportunity to find out the publics opinion on key issues without having to spend time or money conducting a survey. Only about half of municipalities in our region are using social media and Polits says it’s just a matter of getting with the times.
Cochrane’s Mayor says he’s had a Facebook page for six years and has reached thousands of people in online conversations. He says over the course of that time only had to block four people.
