Your Mayor, Your “Friend”: Public Officials, Social Networking, and the Unmapped New Public Square

Abstract

Your City Councilmember wants to connect with you. She wants to hear from you, speak to you, allow you to get to know her, and get to know you. She wants to learn your concerns and interests, and discuss policy, politics, and issues big and small. It’s fair to say that she wants to develop a relationship with you—one in which you share family photos, thoughts about movies and the weather, and, of course, your views on issues that will come before the City Council. In short, she wants to be friends. But some local governments say she can’t—at least not on Facebook. It turns out that there are friends, and there are “friends.” The use of online social networks by local public officials has drawn the ire of local governments, some of whom have gone so far as to bar public officials from social networks for fear of violating campaign finance, open meeting, freedom of information, and government ethics laws. These objections overlook the unique nature of civic social networks as an emerging political institution, characterized by a high degree of transparency and intense public pressure for accountability. The nature of this new institution renders the alarmist reaction overblown. Civic social networks are the new public square, and local governments should embrace them as consistent with the goals of open government and ethics laws.