by Andy McCorkell andrew.mccorkell@archant.co.uk Social networking has opened up the town hall with two new channels of communication for residents with a Twitter account and a Facebook page. The council is now accessible through

by Andy McCorkell

andrew.mccorkell@archant.co.uk

Social networking has opened up the town hall with two new channels of communication for residents with a Twitter account and a Facebook page.

The council is now accessible through these fast-growing, social media sites in addition to its own website, recently confirmed as being in the top 20 sites in the UK for content by SOCITM (Society of Information Technology Management) .

Brent will be providing regular updates on policy, achievements and events on its Facebook page as well as nuggets of information and snapshots of daily life on Twitter.

Cllr Paul Lorber, Brent Council leader, said: "We are still in the formative years of internet and digital communications, only just beginning to understand the impact that it will have on how we work, play and live.

"I welcome the growth of social media as a way of making us more accessible to people who live or work here. It remains to be seen how popular this type of interaction with councils will be but we should make it available to our residents.

"We are always trying to improve our services and make them more efficient, using technology like this is just one of the many ways we're doing that."

Access Brent's Twitter account at twitter. com/brent_council and visit the the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/brentcouncil