The popularity of the social networking website has
surged in 2009 and it is seen as THE social media tool.
Celebrities and politicians have quickly cottoned on to the
power of Twitter, and just days ago Culture Minister Ben Bradshaw
caused a storm when he used the site to attack David
Cameron.

So with 2.6million UK users, organisations in the county are
queuing up to cash in on its benefits.
Local users include the Lancashire Evening Post, councils,
Lancashire Libraries, the Lancashire Tea company, Lancashire
Care Trust, the North West Air Ambulance.

Last week, Lancashire's police signed up.
The force believes Twitterers will help them fight crime and
engage with the public, particularly younger people.

Officers will be able to update the page with crime appeals and
crime advice.

They can send text-message 'tweets' to a mass audience in
seconds.

The force has already used social networking sites such as
Facebook and YouTube to put out crime appeals and inform
people what officers are up to in their towns and villages.

Acting Deputy Chief Constable
Wendy Walker explains: "More and more people are using social
networking sites as an easy, instant form of communication
they can trust and we want to embrace that.

"Social networking sites like Twitter present us with a fun
way of reaching out to more people and pro-actively interacting
with our communities.

"Through this online site we hope that younger generations
in particular will become more involved with policing in their
areas and gain a better understanding of what we do and how
they can help us make their neighbourhoods safer."

Lancashire Care Trust, which looks after mental health services,
started using social networking sites earlier this year to help
"break down the barriers and stigma that surround mental health illnesses."

Sarah Jones, associate director of communications and corporate
affairs at Lancashire Care, said: "Twitter provides us with
an easy way of keeping people up to date with key information
that is both instant and brief. It is enabling us to reach out to a
much wider group of people, which will help us in breaking
down the barriers and stigma that still surround mental health
illnesses.

"Twitter also allows for two way conversations, with people
being able to share their thoughts about what we are
tweeting."

Even library users could find themselves being tweeted.
Lancashire County Library and Information Service uses Twitter
to inform people about events and activities taking place in libraries.

Research shows Lancashire has the biggest proportion of
local authorities jumping on the tweeting bandwagon, using it as a means to engage with the public – and potential
voters.

Councils in Preston, Chorley and South Ribble are using it
to communicate directly with "twitizens".

Carl Holloway, senior communications
officer at Preston Council, says: "We are always
looking at ways in which we an improve our service and ommunicate more effectively ith residents."

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