Using Social Media To Share The Message And Celebrate a City

Online, July 25, 2014 (Newswire.com) - They say you can't please all of the people all of the time, but when getting ready to celebrate a city's birthday, it's probably best to try and please as many of the residents as possible. That is why community leaders of one bedraggled New England town are making sure that as many peoples' voices are heard before they start to make any permanent plans. To accomplish their goal, they have put together a multi-layer attack involving open forums, online discussions and engaging the world of social media to make sure as many voices are heard as possible.

"Hartford is a city with a rich legacy and a vast polyglot of humanity," said J. Dan Pollan, president of The Hartford Alliance and the city's unofficial cheerleader. "In order to make sure we celebrate our entire heritage, including Italian, Puerto Rican, Polish and so many others, we have decided to undertake a program that doesn't simply ask people what they want, but gives them the opportunity to join in the online discussions and really get their voices heard." To do this, they plan on going both old school and new.

Community meetings are scheduled to take place in several of the city's various neighborhoods so people can meet and ideas can be exchanged, but Mr. Pollan agreed that such meetings are rarely attended by the younger generations. That is why he and his team also plan on utilizing Tawkers.com, the internet's leading website when it comes to hosting open forums and online conversations, to reach out to the younger, more computer savvy residents of the city. "What made us choose to go with Tawkers was the ease of the real-time commentary. This way we can immediately hear back from the very people we are trying to include in the celebration, and that will help us focus our endeavors. They, in turn, can get on their favorite social media apps and help spread the word."

Mr. Pollan agreed that such a daunting undertaking might be a little quixotic, but he wasn't worried. After all, this is a city whose biggest annual affair is known as the Hooker Parade, celebrating not the world's oldest profession, but the mercurial and jovial founder of the city.

For more information about Tawkers.com, please visit their website: www.tawkers.com

Jack Terry is a writer and blogger who covers the effect of social media on community events.