The number of people following Nottingham City Council’s main Twitter verified account @MyNottingham has reached 60,000.

The City Council set up the @MyNottingham account on social media network Twitter in January  2009 and has been steadily building up followers since then, tweeting out more than 16,000  messages on a range of issues.

After reaching 50,000 followers in January 2016, followers have increased by 10,000 in just five months.

The number of Twitter followers has been boosted by several big announcements in 2016 including the European Archery Championship taking place in Nottingham; a tram being named after gold medallist Rebecca Adlington and mountaineer Doug Scott and events such as St George’s Day and Light Night.

Portfolio Holder Councillor Alex Norris said: “Nottingham was an early adopter of Twitter and other social media as communications channels which has helped us achieve the highest number of Twitter followers for a council in the East Midlands region. @MyNottingham is also now in the top four core cities with the most Twitter followers, sitting just behind Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham.

“Twitter is a great way to get information about services and events out quickly to large numbers of people. It’s also increasingly being used by people to get in touch with the Council with requests and queries about services.”

To join the 60,000 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.