The Arlington Parks and Recreation Department recently established a Twitter handle in order to better interact and share information with the community.

The Recreation Division has been using Facebook for several years to generate local engagement from the community regarding the wide range of active and passive recreational programs that they offer.

“It was definitely the next step for us as an innovative public department,” said Justin Snasel, Electronic Media Specialist for the APRD. “Facebook has proved to be a great way for our department to gain feedback from the community about events and services. Our decision to create a Twitter handle is simply an extension of our communications efforts, and so far has generated a lot of interest from the public.”

The Twitter Handle, @Arlington_Parks, went live on Wednesday, October 24, 2012. The account has already seen positive feedback from the Arlington community.

“Initially, we as a department followed groups of members who had already shown interest in our city's public services on social media,” Snasel said. “Afterward, we immediately began to receive feedback from the public in the form of followers, and direct messages personally expressing their excitement and gratitude about the new digital medium.”

Snasel said @Arlington_Parks will be used to “advise the public of closures and maintenance we're doing on the parks, as well as provide live coverage and real-time updates from events in the community.”

Ryan Hegreness, Marketing and Enterprise Development Manager for the APRD, said Twitter is a convenient means of mass communication for the department.

“Like Facebook, this is another excellent opportunity for us to provide customer service and better engage with our community,” said Hegreness.

The APRD manages 90 facilities across approximately 100 square miles, and stresses the importance of proper communication and customer service. The department is excited to expand on the digital communication ability in order to better serve the Arlington community.