Finally. It has FINALLY happened. Mississippi has done something right. Yes, it may be the poorest state and it may be producing the most teenage mothers, but they have finally done it!
After seemingly living in the dark ages for forever, Mississippi has discovered social media, specifically Twitter. I haven’t felt this proud of my home state in a REALLY long time. I recently saw an article in Jackson’s newspaper, The Clarion Ledger, concerning the Mississippi Department of Transportation. After a devastating blow from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Mississippi has been searching for ways to get its residents “Hurricane Ready.” Their answer? Twitter!
According to The Clarion Ledger, MDOT has created several Twitter accounts for all of the main interstates used in hurricane evacuation routes. During hurricane season, these accounts will send tweets to all its followers about the quickest evacuation routes or if there are any major problems with any of the routes. An MDOT representative said they chose Twitter because it was a fast and free way to disseminate information to a large mass of people. MDOT plans to unveil their plan to the public through a news conference in May.
Of course, the next step is to get the people of Mississippi to join Twitter. Keep your fingers crossed because I think this could be the really tricky part.
You are right, Jessica. While it is a great idea, it is only great if your public is on Twitter. It will be interesting to follow MDOT in their efforts to a) inform people about Twitter and b) get them to join.