Mayor Keisuke Hiwatashi of Takeo, Japan, a city located in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, frowns when people leave comments on municipal websites (especially those with blogs or other interactive content) with anonymous names and handles.
“When people give their opinions or ask questions, they should take responsibility for this as adults, and this should be done using their real names,” said the mayor at a press conference announcing his city’s migration from their traditional website to Facebook.
Not unlike the Facebook page for Ari Herzog & Associates, anyone can view Takeo’s page — but you have to be a Facebook user who “likes” the page to add comments and share feedback.
It’s not your typical Facebook page, though; it’s an official municipal website. If you try visiting city.takeo.lg.jp you will get redirected to Facebook. Try it.
Naoyuki Miyaguchi, a city spokesman, said, “There were some doubts at first when we were thinking of changing to Facebook because it could only be accessed by those who had an account. For this reason, there was some opposition as it would limit access to city information for some citizens. But since we were considering the shift, Facebook changed its rules to make pages viewable to anybody, and from that point on it was a go.”
Over 6,500 people (a respectable 13% of Takeo’s 50,000 residents) like the page today and the number is likely to explode.
Will other cities follow? Should they? Should yours?
About Ari Herzog
@ariherzog Do you think a town should move its online presence to Facebook, where you have to be a user to comment & share feedback? #gov20
@digiphile @ariherzog You didn’t ask me, but as an elected official in my town, I believe Facebook should be part of a town’s comms plan
@MelWebster Should it be the *only* part of a town’s comms plan? The online hub? What is a citizen doesn’t want to join? #gov20
@digiphile I think it should be one part, along with a “friendly” website and people at Town Hall to serve anyone who wants to go there.
I have never thought Facebook should be the “home” for any business or entity. Sure, it’s great to provide information on Facebook — since so many people are here. But Facebook makes (and changes) the rules. It’s much better to have the true online home on an independent website — where you can make your own rules.
Hmm. Do you therefore disagree with Mashable.com or Boston.com which require you to have a Facebook (or Twitter, in Mashable’s case) account in order to comment?
Totally agree Erica! Especially since Google Plus hit the scene. Your own site keeps the control of your content where it belongs – with you and your company!
Though… to be fair, your own content is hosted on a server that is likely not in your physical business; so anything can go down at any time.
The server may go down, but you still own the content.