Who says you can’t teach an old dog new media?

You might think county government would be more traditional, more old-school in its communications. But Multnomah County gets the value of “new” media, and it is putting its money where its mouth is.

The Oregon county’s chairman is hiring a specialist to manage communications via Facebook, Twitter and other social media. To him, it’s obvious. "These technologies are not just fringe technologies. People are signing up for social networking by the millions. That's where our constituents are. That's where the people are who we serve,” says Ted Wheeler in a report on KATU News’ website.

He’s been challenged by a radio personality there who points out that Multnomah County got by all this time before without such a position—why do they need one now, he asks? But isn’t that a little like asking a person why he’d trade in a typewriter for a computer?

Wheeler is undeterred in his belief in the value of social media. In fact, he and his staff are so committed that they took a 12 percent cut in salary to pay the new hire. If an entity as stereotypically conservative as county government is Tweeting, who can really claim to be too stodgy for new media?

--Julianne W.