Lars Larson on Social Networking

Let’s talk about social networking and whether or not it’s an essential product of government.

I heard about the Social Network Coordinator last week. Multnomah County is planning to spend between $60,000 and $70,000 in salary, as well as benefits, just to hire somebody to be Multnomah County’s Social Networking Coordinator.

Multnomah County says it’s important to communicate with all the citizens. I couldn’t agree more, but what government does with Twitter, Facebook and MySpace is to communicate out. I think what is more important is what the citizens say to government.

An awfully lot of the time when the citizens say something to government it is ignored. When the citizens say, “No more taxes or medical marijuana or doctor assisted suicide”, government ignores the message.

That’s what they need to focus on. Not hiring some guy for $70,000 a year to make sure Ted Wheeler’s Facebook is updated, or Jeff Cogen’s Twitter is kept up to date. That doesn’t make any sense and it’s not an essential part of government.

“For more Lars click here”