At Least Guelph Transit Uses Social Media...

In the year 2017, if you want to complain, you go to social media. A whole industry there is built on rating what rocks and what sucks, and that includes the way you get around your city. Online, there's often not a lot of love for Guelph Transit, so I was curious, where do other municipalities stand when it comes to interacting with their customers online? It turns of that Guelph Transit is a leader in that regard. 

Guelph Politico is Looking for a Freelance Contributor

Part of crowd-funding for Guelph Politico and expanding its coverage was to also expand the voices that use it. This has had to happen a bit sooner than I expected, but it's happening now just the same. I'm looking for someone to help me out with Politico on a freelance basis. Details are below.

Transit Users Not Pleased - Okay Pissed - This First Week Without Peak Service

If users rated your service a 1.8 out of 5 on your own Facebook business page, would you try to make your service better? If your Guelph Transit the answer is 'no'. It's a paradoxic move for the service even as it moves into council mandated budget cuts for the summer and the loss of twice-a-day peak service. The reaction from the public in the last week though has not been good, as the cuts are being blamed for delays and missed transfers by the City's dedicated bus riders.

New Year's Directions for 2016

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. If you want to make a change in your life don't wait for an arbitrary date on the calendar to start making those changes just because it's the first day of a New Year. Having said that though, it seems appropriate to take this time to set goals for the coming year, and this year for Politico I have some big goals. To my mind, nothing makes you working harder to achieve goals than making it known publicly that you have a plan, and in the interest of full disclosure, here are five things you can look forward to changing this year on Guelph Politico. 

Tribune Clarifies the Matter with Negative Seagram Ads

The early campaign tactic to throw mud on NDP candidate Andrew Seagram by the "Regional Agent of the Conservative Party of Canada" has made national headlines, but what was missing from the conversation was an answer to an important question: did he actually say that? The answer is, of course not. Two ads have been released by the nameless "Regional Agent", both with quotes taken from social media, both taken out of context. Fortunately, the Guelph Tribune has done the dirty work of re-contextualizing things. 

City Wants Your Two Cents About the Budget

After the truncated effort to pass a budget earlier this year, the City of Guelph, its staff, and political leaders are going to try something new for the 2016 Budget, a massive new effort to try and gather as much community consultation as possible before city council votes for the final budget in December. 

New Website Wants to Celebrate Guelph

So I was browsing around the Guelph sub-Reddit the other day, and I came across a post linking to a new website meant to celebrate all things royally awesome about the Royal City. The post spoke to me because four years ago I wrote a post called "50 Reasons to Be Pretty Damn Euphoric You Live in Guelph," which remains one of Politico's most popular posts ever. I suppose we all are looking for a way to share the things we love about Guelph, and now it looks like someone wants to do that on an ongoing basis.

Press Release - New Mayor's Blog Launched

Having an active internet presence is key for any modern politician looking to get his or her message out to the masses, not to mention keeping their community up-to-date with key points of information. Mayor Cam Guthrie is no stranger to this idea, and during his political tenure he's been active on Facebook and Twitter and maintained a news blog for his Ward 4 constituents. Eager not to lose that connection to the people, Guthrie and the City of Guelph has just announced the launch of the new Mayor's mayor's blog. Details and links to follow.

Guelph Politicast #4.1 - John Legere, Mayoral Candidate

The election season officially gets underway on Guelph Politico today with the launch of season four of the Guelph Politicast. This season will deal with the 2014 Municipal Election, and will predominately focus on interviews with the candidates running for Mayor of Guelph. At bat first is John Legere, a local businessman and family man who was one of the first ones in the race this past January. Legere's main issue is the promotion of transparency in government, and creating what he calls a "a truly representative government," and he's launched a grassroots campaign to test the waters for his idea.

To Dare Not to Tweet

With the Ontario Election now officially underway, expect to hear from every major party as to what they plan to do, and how, and when, and why for the people of the Province of Ontario. One of the ways candidates get that word out is through social media platforms like your Reddits, your Instagrams, and your Pinterests, but the most ubiquitous seem to still be Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter's becoming more common, following along the same promotional trajectory as Facebook. That is to say that if you have anything to promote, you need a Twitter account. It is, after all, the most direct and succinct way to get your message out, so it really seems like a must have. But not all of Guelph's provincial election candidates have a Twitter account, and it seems that some of us, apparently, are pretty upset about it.

No Tweets from Cam (For a While)

While reviewing my Twitter feed today, I came across this:  

Typically, someone, anyone, taking a Twitter break isn't newsworthy, but Ward 4 Councillor Cam Guthrie has blazed new ground locally for availability and accessibility via social media by our politicians. Hopefully, whatever might be keeping Cam from tweeting will resolve itself and allow him to tweet again soon.