Utilizing social media to improve local government responsiveness

In this paper, we investigate ways that social media platforms can enhance the responsiveness of branches of local government that deal primarily in performing tasks on the behalf of citizens or interacting with them. More specifically, we utilize the Twitter platform (on the web and capable smartphones) to provide a two way communications channel between a local government system and citizens. Through such social media driven communication, citizens can submit requests for work to be completed, which could then be carried out by the local government. The goal of such a system is to enable the local government to increase responsiveness and gain efficiency in its manpower usage through optimized route planning and intelligent work dispatch.