Newark mayor uses Twitter to help manage snow emergency

They're not all like Sarah Palin.

Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., used Twitter to communicate with his constituents during this week's snow emergency. This article in The Cutline blog on the Yahoo! News website tells how.

Reports Michael Caldrone:

For the past two days, Booker has been responding non-stop to residents' concerns over Twitter. Booker's Twitter feed has offered a fascinating window into how a public official can harness social media to handle a city crisis.

Booker told The Cutline that Twitter has been "very, very helpful" in dealing with the situation on the snow-covered ground. "It expands my ability to make a positive impact on my constituents and meet the needs of the city," he added.

On Tuesday, one Twitter user asked: "Can we can we please have trucks on Wainwright Street ASAP? My street is terrible!" Booker quickly shot back: "On it." ...

There's more, but that one's typical of the others. Booker is getting better notices, Caldrone says, than New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The contrast with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was vacationing at Disney World during the emergency, and Lt. Gov Kim Guadagno, in Mexico, wasn't mentioned in Caldrone's post.