The Michigan Municipal League wants to congratulate the City of Houghton for being the first community to join in the League’s LotusLive proof of concept.

Houghton will be assisting the League in testing the applicability of this collaboration tool by using it in day to day operations and evaluating its effectiveness. The League believes that this system has great potential for all our members and is excited that Houghton is helping with the effort.

If your city is interested in participating in the pilot project, the League, in partnership with IBM, is offering this unique opportunity to a small number of our members for FREE. Members that participate in the project will get the use of the cloud-based software free for one year.

As part of the project, participants will be asked to validate three specific use cases, but can utilize the system for any project or process they wish during the trial period. Specifically members will be asked to use the system to communicate and collaborate with their council, an outside group, and on an internal process. We are already using the system at the League, and are convinced this program will save our members time and money, while greatly improving workflows and collaborations. The League is still able to include additional members, but there are limited opportunities to participate.

If you’re interested and would like more information contact the League's Rob Ferrari at (734) 669-6366 or rferrari@mml.org. The League believes that messaging and technology are one of the eight key asset areas that a community must have to be vibrant in the 21st century. To that end, we are constantly evaluating what we can do to help our members improve in this area, and this pilot is just one of many such effort. For more information on the messaging and technology asset, or the League’s Center for 21st Century Communities program. Go here for details.

Matt Bach is director of communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org or (734) 669-6317.
LotusLive is a collaboration tool available for FREE to a limited number of Michigan Municipal League members.

ALPENA, Michigan - Using social media to promote Michigan communities and the potential risks of doing so was the topic of a recent seminar in Alpena at the

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. I had the opportunity to speak during the Oct. 7 session, “Social Media is Here – Is Your Community Ready.”

My role in the three-hour session was as the social media cheerleader and I discussed ways communities and municipal officials are already using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogs and other social media outlets to promote their communities. Also speaking was Gene King, LEAF coordinator and a consultant for the Michigan Municipal League’s Loss Control program; and Audrey Forbush, attorney with the Plunkett and Cooney law firm. Gene and Audrey discussed current legal cases regarding social media and the steps communities should take when getting involved with social media. We all agreed that it’s important for communities to establish guidelines for employees when it comes to using social media and for communities to lay out a plan as to how it would like to use social media.

Using social media fits nicely into the League’s Center for 21^st Century Communities program. The 21c3 program identifies eight assets that make for vibrant communities and one of those assets is messaging and technology. Getting involved in social media falls under that messaging and technology asset. The League also had three social media-related sessions during our 2010 Convention featuring experts from throughout the nation.

View additional photos from the Oct. 7 social media session here on Flickr. View photos from our 2010 Convention here. Read a recent Flint Journal article about how some Genesee County communities are using social media.

Matt Bach is director of communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at (734) 669-6317 or mbach@mml.org.