Learn to Twitter - only 17 millions

The impression that (especially regional) public entities propagate just about any sales-pitch for "new" technology that passes under their nose got further reinforced the last week when a project in Karlshamn designed to increase interaction between local citizens and public officials using twitter and facebook got funded with 17 million SEK. I agree that integrating the actual behaviour of the people into the way that public administration works is a good thing. But still, what Malin Siwe suggested in Dagens Nyheter on July 12, that first telephone hours need to be decent, sems higher on the priority list. Read more about the project here and a comment here. The project plan is available here. The title of the project is X-ovation förstudie Medborgarservice 2.0 and described in this way by Sydöstran:

"Projektet X-ovation får en budget på 17 miljoner kronor under tre år för att utveckla dialogen mellan Karlshamnsborna och kommunen och andra offentliga instanser med hjälp av sociala medier på internet, som facebook, bloggar, chattar, twitter och andra nya och kommande innovationer som bygger på kommunikation mellan människor."