Town Facebook Page

[kevinb]

I am Glad there is conversation for an official  town facebook page.

lets get the issues out

1) it will diminish the Winchendon courier , NO it will not, 90 percent of the time the information is already reported to the public in the Telegram and Gardner News. The Courier provides editorials and Letters to the Editor that drama seekers will still read. the paper delivers once a week, The editor of the courier having issue with up to date information delivered through facebook is unjustified.

2) We have a town website and there will be to much information for the site to distribute which will make it crash. WRONG , Facebook has an incredible amount of bandwidth and the capacity to handle all the post we can give out. the backyard fence and winchendon free speech sites have not crashed with all the postings.

3) The city of Leominster Mayor does not keep up his site with all the events of a small city of 40,000 plus people. YES he does and he has staff members who post all up to date information. so all are informed. the Mayor does respond to all residents and people who ask questions. they receive answers quickly.

4)  People will be rude and attack the town manager, depts and issues posted on the site. YES THEY WILL, But with the correct protocol and the distribution of information such as current events and up to date issues happening around town the rumors will diminish because there will be conversation. just as there is now even with a town newspaper, the attacks on the town manager or other dept will fade when there is a response. you cannot have a person controlling a private website stating " the word on the street". town issues should coming from the source to all residents at the same time.

5) Pro, residents will not be banned by a private run site where the information is censored. people need to vent, be informed, ask questions and receive answers. We should not have to run to town hall every time we want public information, it should be up to date and readily available to us all.Many work outside the area and need to stay informed.

This is 2015 and change in how information is delivered needs to more informative. Facebook is a great place for being informed meetings should be placed in Skype mode or another forum so people can watch live outside the Comcast proprietary realm the town has had for decades with old outdated equipment. a smart phone can do the job in today's technical world. you tube video's and in the moment responses is what we need.

the only people resisting this are the few who want to control the flow of information and deliver only what is in the best interest for themselves. This is wrong and is going to change, Residents use facebook, twitter, etc .This is the reason there is a recall. People are demanding to be more informed in the business our town officials are performing for the benefits of the residents. they want transparency, no more resistance.