By Trimmel Gomes
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-886944.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – It's all about making sure public officials are still following the law when sending tweets, facebooking or interacting on other social networking tools. Attorney General Bill McCollum's Sunshine Technology Team briefed open government experts and state agency officers Monday about jumping on the social media bandwagon.
If you're like many of those who simply can't wait to post that juicy bit of information by updating your status on Facebook or sending a tweet on Twitter, Deputy Counsel Alexis Lambert with the Attorney General's Office has a warning.
"Well, with Twitter, you're never more than 140 characters from getting yourself fired, so that's always worth considering."
The Attorney General's task force is set up to help elected officials and their staffs navigate new technology and social networks in the sunshine.
"We encourage them to use social media, purely for the purposes of giving citizens more access to the information and activities the government is doing, and to just have them keep in mind the concerns about the open meetings law and public records law when they are making and creating these websites."
Lambert says a great example is when law enforcement agencies use social media to get critical information, like Amber Alerts, out to communities.