Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yahoo Groups: staying in touch
Social media: two-way with your MPP

Today, social media, a term that didn't exist just a few years ago, enables us to rediscover people we knew in our past, and stay in touch with our circle of friends and associates in the here-and-now.

Relationships and social media

Business people, professionals and government get to connect with those who matter to us in what marketers traditionally call a "relationship." In urban environments, what an elected representative is important to a lot of people. Prior to social media, there had been no cost-effective, easy and reliable way to keep in touch with the people you represented as an elected official. Conversely, people who are concerned about what happens in govenment had, until recently, no easy and accessible way to connect with the men and women whom they send to govern in their name.

So welcome to the 21st century.

Using social media to keep in touch

For most elected representatives, there is a web site. To augment it are public meetings and a newsletter, often also called a "householder." We've gone much further than that. Check out the other ways that we can keep in touch with you, and you can keep in touch with us.

• More than 500 million people worldwide use Facebook. Now you can use the popular web tool that young and old alike have as their medium of choice. Our Facebook URL shortcut is http://www.facebook.com/BobDelaneyMPP. It links to my Fan Page on Facebook. Click Like at the top right of the page to receive updates;
• Detailed content on Yahoo! Groups. Groups enable a community to come together, to ask and answer questions, to connect to resources, and to exchange information. Yahoo! administers the Groups, which means you can subscribe and unsubscribe whenever you wish, and choose how you wish to receive information. We have two such Groups to serve the western Mississauga community:
  • Mississauga Taxpayer: Addresses the type of concern we often see on e-mail from people like you, or hear in the Constituency office. If you've heard a topic being discussed on talk radio, the real answer may be on the Mississauga Taxpayer Group. See the Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MississaugaTaxpayer.
    To subscribe, click here. Send a blank e-mail, and when Yahoo e-mails you back, just reply to the e-mail without entering any other content. The sign-up process is not the best on Yahoo, but it does work;
  • Mississauga Seniors: The fastest-growing demographic in Mississauga is not young families, but seniors! This Group speaks to many of the unique needs of seniors, who are also the fastest-growing group of on-line users. See the Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MississaugaSeniors.
    To subscribe, click here. See above for the sign-up procedure;
• Twitter: Blogs in 140 characters: I signed up for this service to try what people were talking about. It is simple and fun. I liken it to a tap on the shoulder. If you are a Twitter user, follow me by searching for BobDelaneyMPP;
• YouTube for the video: Search YouTube under "Bob Delaney" for videos of my appearances in the community, and exerpts or short speeches from within the Legislature at Queen's Park;
• Don't forget this web site. It continues to evolve in function and in form. It will receive a complete re-make in the short term.