ChirpUp.com

Mark Bradford of ChirpUp quoted by J. Schwan (@jschwan), founder and managing and technology practice partner, at Solstice Consulting in CIO Public.

Municipal CIOs can also introduce many of the free SaaS social-media tools as a way for leaders to connect with constituents. Mark Bradford, co-founder of the new media marketing company ChirpUp.com, has a message for public CIOs: “Municipalities have an opportunity to apply many of the new SaaS and OSS technologies — like blogs, Twitter and social-networking sites — to connect with constituents. In an era when communities need help, governmental transparency expectations are high and budgets scarce, municipalities have a chance to get creative and find new, efficient ways to humanize interactions with citizens. There are free tools available to mayors, councilmen and aldermen for authoring, publishing and promoting their message.”

Some municipalities have already started to use this medium. “Look at Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s new YouTube channel,” Bradford said. “He’s taking his message directly to Chicago citizens and, perhaps, national leaders. There is no mediation or dilution by mainstream media journalists — no color commentary, no editorial by the broadcasters. He’s speaking directly to us.”

Read J Schwan’s complete article in CIO Public online.