EventsPolitics

Honolulu Mayor to Hold Twitter Town Hall

Honolulu Mayor Kirk CaldwellAs Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell wraps up his second round of island-wide town hall meetings, he will be hosting a virtual town hall meeting on Twitter on Monday, December 9 from noon to 1 p.m.

Mayor Caldwell will be joined by representatives from key city departments in answering citizen questions in real time. The mayor’s Twitter account is @MayorKirkHNL and the hashtag for the event will be #AskKirk. The mayor and his team is already monitoring and collecting questions.

It should be noted that the #AskKirk hashtag has been used before, most recently by the Massachusetts-based Dennis and Callahan show on WEEI as a way to submit largely mocking questions to show staffer Kirk Minihane. It should be relatively easy for the mayor and his team, along with others following along on Twitter, to figure out which questions are for Honolulu city officials.

“Town hall meetings are a great way to hear from communities around the island and answer questions directly,” said Mayor Caldwell. “To reach out even further, we are holding our first Twitter town hall on Monday to provide an opportunity for Oahu residents who use social media to connect with us from the convenience of their computers. I’m looking forward to our first Twitter Town Hall.”

There have been virtual town hall meetings conducted via social media at the state and national level. Hawaii Sen. Jill Tokuda has hosted a Twitter town hall and a Google+ Hangout focused on education. And U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard hosts “#AskTulsi” question-and-answer sessions.

See Also: Caldwell’s Big Twittersphere Splash (Civil Beat)

Ryan Ozawa

Ryan Kawailani Ozawa has immersed himself in new technologies and online communities since the days before the web. From running a dial-up BBS in the early '90s to exploring today’s dynamic world of "Web 2.0" and social media, he has long embraced and evangelized the ways in which technology can bring people together.