During the last municipal election, the Town of Markham employed a novel approach to getting voters engaged.
DIY Markham used Facebook, Twitter and other social media to get people involved. In a presentation in Ottawa last week, a two PhD students at Carleton University presented a study of the project as a model for other governments to follow.
"The Town of Markham's integration of social media into the 2010 municipal election highlights its experience in dealing with some of the common concerns raised by government," PhD student Nicole Goodman writes in her report. "The steps that it followed to ensure all legal and political conditions were satisfied could be used as a model for the development of social media programs by governments and election agencies elsewhere."
The innovative project was run for the GTA municipality by the digital consulting firm Delvinia. Company CEO Adam Froman says that the campaign was used alongside more traditional voter outreach initiatives to make Markham a "leader in e-democracy and public engagement."
In a statement sent out by Delvinia, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said, "Social media is now a critical element of any municipal communications
campaign. We know that social
media users represent the highest proportion of our election
demographics and expect this trend to increase dramatically. Markham now
has an effective and proven platform to capitalize on this in future."
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Susan O'Neil, Delvinia