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City opens new Twitter account
by Rick DeClue · News · April 23, 2015


Moments after Library Director Nick Shimmin started talking about the City of West Branch’s new Twitter account, several people, including council members, drew out their smartphones and hit “Follow.”


The account, @CityofWB, opened March 3 with a tweet about the council cancelling its first meeting that month.

When Shimmin mentioned the name of the new account, @CityofWB only had two followers.

“I think it’s me and Becky,” he said, referring to Becky Knoche, the assistant library director/youth librarian.

By the next morning, the number of followers had quadrupled, to eight. No “retweets” yet, and only one “favorite”, so far.

The “two followers” comment drew a laugh from the council and audience, and Mayor Mark Worrell talked about trending and the potential upsides and downsides of being followed.

Shimmin said the account provides another source of information about what is going on in West Branch.

Much of the information is already available through the city’s Web site as current news or in the weekly City Council Updates.

“This provides another outlet for people who might not look at the Web site,” Shimmin.

Tweets to date have ranged from information on activities such as the city’s Easter egg hunt and cemetery cleanup to notifications about utility work and Parks and Recreation sign-ups.

Along with his responsibilities at the library, Shimmin works with city staff on various technology issues. The council seemed very supportive of this Twitter effort. For months, council discussions on many issues have included attention on how to inform people and market the city.

Recently, the city was told by the Cedar County Economic Development Commission that the West Branch Web site is one of the best that group has seen. City staff and partners such as the National Park Service have worked to market major city events, such as Hoover Hometown Days, through radio advertising and other media.

The mayor is working with a group to create a development incentives program to attract residential builders to West Branch and support potential entries into next year’s Parade of Homes. One major goal of this group is to spread the word about the attractions and advantages of living in West Branch.