Monday, November 16, 2009

City of San Carlos Joins Facebook!

San Carlos, CA - October 21, 2009 - The City of San Carlos announced that it has joined Facebook and now has a Facebook page that provides information on City Projects and Events. The City of San Carlos Facebook page debuted on October 20th, and was formally announced at the Pulse of Business Social Media Workshop sponsored by the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce and held at the San Carlos Library this morning. The page is available on the Internet at http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Carlos-CA/City-of-San-Carlos/159914270431?v=wall&ref=nf

San Carlos residents, businesses and visitors can find the city's Facebook page by entering "City of San Carlos" in the search box on www.facebook.com. The initial information on the City of San Carlos Facebook section includes today's Pulse of Business Social Media Workshop, this weekend's Citywide Garage Sale sponsored by San Carlos Together and San Carlos Green and the upcoming Goblin Walk sponsored by the San Carlos Parks and Recreation Department, San Carlos Chamber of Commerce and Miller & Associates. Even though the San Carlos Facebook is barely 24 hours old, it already has 30 "fans" (Facebook members that are watching the City's Facebook page).

The City's of San Carlos section on Facebook can be reached from any standard web browser including Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. In addition, there is software to reach Facebook from cell phones and smart phones including the recently released Facebook 2.0 program that was written for Apple iPhone users by the developers at Facebook.Com.

Social Media and Economic Development in San Carlos
An interesting twist of the San Carlos approach to social media is the City's program of following local businesses that also use social media. San Carlos firms with a current business registration on Facebook and Twitter are linked to the City's pages on these services. This creates a virtual San Carlos Business Guide on each service and helps to leverage the traffic that both the City and the local business firms receive.

According to Assistant City Manager Brian Moura, this is another way that the City is stimulating economic development and the success of businesses located in San Carlos. A check of the two social media sites shows 30 San Carlos businesses linked to the City Twitter site and 11 San Carlos businesses linked to the City's Facebook site. The City anticipates expanding these virtual business guides as more San Carlos companies join Facebook and Twitter.

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