Incredible Hun: the story of the mayor who rules the town with the help of Twitter

The mayor of the small Spanish towns of Hun by the name of Jose Antonio Rodrigo Salas is at least an interesting person. First, he persuaded the residents to make the city's motto is the word "Love" in binary-encoded, and then decided to manage the settlement with the help of Twitter. As life has shown, the experiment failed.

The city hung in the South of Spain I live about three and a half thousand people. In 2011, the mayor decided to make experiment — to plant all of the residents on Twitter and see if it helps better manage the city. Jose Antonio Rodrigo Salas managed not only to persuade its citizens to create accounts in Twitter, but to confirm them in the city hall, so he knew exactly with whom. Twitter began to use electricians, street-sweepers, cooks at the school — in short, everything.

Communication of authorities with citizens looks like. In the evening, the resident writes to the mayor that the street burned out light bulb in the lamp. He says, "Thanks for the message. Tomorrow will fix it" — and said in a tweet an electrician. The next day, the electrician lays out a picture of the repaired lantern.

This kind of "mutual transparency" works as a carrot and as a stick. On the one hand, if the authorities do not do their jobs, people immediately know about it. On the other hand, citizens see that government officials and utilities really work. And they can praise the employee — for example, a tweet with a repaired lamp has received a few retweets. And the driver sweepers thanks to his incendiary tweets and became a local celebrity.

According to the mayor, Twitter helps the city to save. The mayor was able to fire three police officers and leaving one. The only COP in the city said that the day he gets around 50 tweets from residents. This information about serious incidents (e.g., accidents) and complaints ("My neighbor sings, not plugging, what to do?"). At night, the policeman hangs up the phone — if there is something urgent, and so will find: everyone knows where he lives.

Many residents Huna say that the use of Twitter makes the city better, because people have a direct connection with the authorities. But there are also dissatisfied. One of the residents annoyed by the fact that the employees unconditionally fulfill all that I will say the mayor. He doesn't like that some people write not only about work but also about household chores ("I don't care what they made paella for dinner").

The last time in 2011, Rodriguez Salas ran for mayor, his opponent went under the slogan "Vote for a real mayor, not virtual". Even to experiment with Twitter, the local newspaper called Rodriguez Salas digital mayor, and his city — Incredible Hoon.

The next election will be held in may 2015. Now the mayor of the town of Hun — 350 thousand Twitter followers, and on this indicator it not only more popular than all its possible competitors combined, but even the mayor of new York. published

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

Source: meduza.io/feature/2015/04/20/neveroyatnyy-hun