In December 2011, Walter Neary retired after two terms as an elected member of the Lakewood City Council in Lakewood, Washington State. Back in the mid-2000′s, I was one of the first local elected officials to blog and use social media to interact with constituents. My 30 seconds of fame came not so much from the workshops I did for local elected officials, but in 2008 when some citizens complained because I was blogging during City Council meetings. I stopped 
I don’t regret the experience at all, because it got me thinking that local elected officials have to be very deliberate in how they approach social media. I began studying how other local elected officials used social media, for good, for bad, and sometimes for confusion. Hence this blog, which on the days when I want to continue it, is meant to be a voice for sensible ways to use social media for a better community and healthier democracy.
I still enjoy studying how government and social media can interact for the better. I serve on Lakewood’s Landmarks and Heritage Advisory board and proudly sit on the board of the Washington Coalition for Open Government.
Very interesting read. As a newly elected local councillor I have been live tweeting my council meetings and have had only very very positive feedback. I tend to type up most of my tweets as drafts before council so I’m not distracted during council meetings and can just sent a tweet as we finish dealing with a topic or issue.
That’s great, Chad! Good for you for communicating with your constituents. The drafts idea is a great suggestion. I think in my case, there were a number of differences 1) this was a few years ago when social media was less common, 2) Lakewood, which I love dearly, is not a high-tech place; it’s considered eccentric to open up a laptop during a meeting. Perhaps things are different where you are, and 3) the people who were complaining about my actions were the same people who had violently disagreed with me on a recent political issue. So it’s entirely possible their approaching the media had nothing to do with my stance on that other issue, but anyone who’s been involved in political disputes might come up with another theory