The number of people following Nottingham City Council’s main Twitter account @MyNottingham has doubled to 40,000 in just over a year.

The City Council set up the account on the social media network in January 2009 and has been steadily building followers since then, tweeting more than 12,000 messages on a range of issues.

In January last year, the account had 20,000 followers and by November it had reached 30,000. In just six months since then it has risen once again to 40,000 with many people using Twitter as a way of interacting with the authority, asking questions and providing feedback.

Some of the ‘twighlights’ include:

• Up-to-the-minute announcements, including live updates from the recent election counts, coverage of the Milk Race and the bid to expand Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library throughout Nottingham;
• A live Q&A session in March used Twitter to enable the audience to put questions to Council Leader Jon Collins on the city’s devolution bid;
• Advice about bad weather, school closures and other emergencies, including ‘out of hours’ breaking news;
• Feedback has shown that more people are hearing about our events through social media;
• Opportunities to show a ‘day in the life’ of our clean teams across the city through Twitter have encouraged two-way conversations to report issues such as dog fouling and missed bins.

The authority continues to have the highest number of council Twitter followers in the East Midlands.

Councillor Graham Chapman, Deputy Leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “It wasn’t too long ago that we were celebrating the fact we had reached 30,000 followers and now we’ve reached 40,000. It is particularly impressive when you compare us with other cities of similar size.

“For example, we have more people following our Twitter account than Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Newcastle and Leeds, while we have more than three times as many followers as our neighbours in Leicester and nearly 15,000 more than Derby.

“Twitter and other social media such as Facebook have become ways that councils can engage with residents and families who want information about our services. From bin collections to live tweeting at city events like the elections, it all helps us find out what people’s views are.

“I believe one of the main reasons we are doing so well is that it’s not just one-way traffic. We do try to get back to people despite receiving a large number of queries.”

To join the 40,000 Nottingham City Council Twitter followers, go to www.twitter.com/MyNottingham. The City Council’s other social media accounts include facebook/mynottingham, youtube.com/NottCityCouncil and instagram @MyNottingham.