Patrick W. Rollens
Patrick W. Rollens works in communications and social media at the Village of Oak Park, Ill. A recovering journalist, Patrick lives in Chicago with his wife Melissa, a public school teacher.
On the future of government communications ? We have a critical mass of tech-savvy residents who are active on social media. These folks do a great job of keeping the conversation going throughout the week on our Facebook and Twitter pages. In the future, I expect to see more and more residents active in the digital space, asking questions and seeking resources from their local governments. It is vital for local governments to recognize this service area and devote resources to meeting these folks online. Every question answered on Twitter is one more phone call saved or trip to city hall avoided.