Multnomah County is Kicking Your Butt in Social Media

We are finally getting to the point where government entities are starting to enact social media initiatives. This from Frank Mungeam, staff writer of Kgw in Portland:

“Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler is taking criticism for a new county job that’s just been posted.

The official title is Social Media Coordinator.

The qualified candidate will be paid between $60,000-$70,000 to use social media sites to reach out to the residents of Multnomah County.”

In my opinion this is a brilliant move on behalf of the county. They want to start communicating on a different level with people throughout the county and social media is one way to do this.

There are people in the area that are doubting the validity of the position which is not a complete surprise to me… although disturbing. The members of Mult. County are disturbed with the price tag of the position ($60,000 – $70,000/year). While this is a high price to pay for a social media advocate but sometimes the price is high to adapt to changes in communication.

If you want an example of the best way to look at shifting your paradigm as a business owner.. listen to this:

“I am taking a lot of heat for this, but so did the poor guys who claimed that someday those crazy flying machines would replace the railroads. – Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler”

Related articles by Zemanta

• DREAM JOB: $70K to use Twitter and Facebook (mashable.com)
• 7 Reasons Why the Business World Hates Social Media (futurelab.net)
• A Meaningless Exercise (duncandavidson.com)