County Commission | The Magazine January February 2018 | Page 9

FROM THE COVER
Game changing
SOCIAL MEDIA
O nce upon a time, legislators
on the House or Senate floor
were, well, insulated.
When the body was in
session, the only people in the
room were elected officials,
their staff and a few journalists.
Visitors who made the drive
to Montgomery observed from
a glassed-in balcony. If you
had an urgent message, you
asked a young page to deliver a
If you are watching the action on the House or Senate floor, you wi ll likely see
handwritten note.
a lot of this. Just like everyone else, legislators are constantly checking their
These days an awful lot of
mobile devices. This image shows Rep. Alan Baker working on the last day
the 2017 Regular Session. Photo: Dionne Whetstone | Alabama House of
that insulation is gone, peeled of
Representatives
away by social media. It’s as if
any constituent could waltz into the chamber, carrying a big sign emblazoned
with “Vote YES for SB 1,” followed by a few or a hundred others with opinions on
the bill, all talking at once.
Some 60 percent of the Alabama
Legislature is on Twitter, according to
the latest information. It’s a number
that continues to grow; and it
represents enough votes to pass a bill.
Twitter and Facebook have
become an integral part of how
legislators do their work. Some
provide play-by-play coverage in real
time from the floor, discussing each
bill brought up for consideration
and generating a steady stream of
feedback. Others use social media
to poll voters, getting an instant
read on support or
opposition among
citizens. Still others
use social media to
provide information
– sharing basic facts
about how a proposed gas tax would
work, for example, or circulating the
list of bills expected to come up on
the floor the next day.
It should come as no surprise
that ACCA is mounting a full-
court press to boost social media
engagement among county leaders
during the legislative session.
“We definitely need to meet
legislators where they are,” said Abby
Luker Fitzpatrick, ACCA Director of
Communication and Engagement.
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