If you like your local government there’s a new way to show it — on Facebook.

Hall County now has a Facebook page that provides updates on county business like road closures, new programs and commission meetings.

Public Information Officer Nikki Young said the posts will be short and will alert people to things they may need to know.

“It’s just little bites of information to let them know what’s going on. Things that would be useful to their lives,” Young said.

“It’s an open forum for people to interact with their government.”

Young said the Facebook page will be a good addition to the county’s website because it will cater to a different demographic.

“We can reach out to them rather than waiting for them to come to us,” Young said. “It’s a more proactive
approach to communications.”

People will have the ability to leave questions or comments on the county’s posts, but Young said users can not create their own posts. She hopes this will deter any derogatory posts and keep comments positive and on topic.

“I want this to be a public information forum. I don’t want our site to turn into a political forum,” Young said.

She said other local government sites have been a success.

“Most people are excited that their government is being proactive and being open,” Young said.

The county has discussed the possibility of joining Facebook for about a year, Young said. After doing some research, she realized the site could easily be maintained on a regular basis.

“There were some that were on the fence about it,” Young said. “But once you get it set up, it doesn’t take a lot of time to maintain it.”

Like all other county communications, Facebook posts will be subject to open records laws.

“I’m going to keep a record of every single thing that gets posted,” Young said.

At Tuesday’s board of commissioners work session, Young will present the site and ask the commissioners to consider a social media policy.

“We hope this will be a good way to promote all the services we offer,” Young said.