County official breaks budget news on Twitter

Instead of calling a press conference, this executive announces budget shortfalls via tweets

When Ron Sims, the elected executive of King County, Wash., started using the “microblogging” service Twitter last summer, the feedback from residents and the media was pretty enthusiastic.

“My county exec is on Twitter. [Ron Sims] gets it,” said one fellow Twitter user.

“I think it’s great Sims is using Twitter,” posted “Mark” in response to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog story about Sims. “It’s one more (effective) way to connect.”

In September 2008, when it came time to get the word out about a larger-than-expected shortfall in the county budget, Sims could have called a press conference—but instead, he got on Twitter.

“Just revised King County’s budget shortfall from 86 to 90 million dollars. Inflation and a sluggish economy are reducing revenue growth,” Sims tweeted.

This novel approach to communications won plenty of notice from the mainstream media as well as local bloggers.