In the last few days, there has been a growing crackdown on the use of Twitter as ESPN, the NFL, and the U.S. Marines have cracked down on the use of the microblogging service.
But the use of Twitter continues to grow among those in state government. What started out as tweeting among a handful of state officials and politicians is spreading. Case in point: The Department of Management Services got into the act about two weeks ago and has even started putting "Follow Us on Twitter" at the bottom of DMS e-mails.
So far FloridaDMS has been tweeting primarily about its upcoming matchmaker conference for minority vendors or about upcoming contract bids for the state. A spokeswoman for DMS says their purchasing office sends information to the communication office which then posts it on Twitter. But Cathy Schroeder adds: "We want to expand down the road."
And that is apparently ok with Gov. Charlie Crist, whose U.S. Senate campaign maintains a Twitter account in his name. While Crist acknowledges that he doesn't personally use Twitter or any other social media site, he said this week he has no problem with state agencies using Twitter.
"I think people ought to communicate in a way that's effective for them,'' Crist said. "Let freedom ring."
So far some of the state entities besides the Department of Management Services on Twitter include:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission - MyFWC.
Florida State Watch Office of the Divison of Emergency Management - Florida _ SWO
Attorney General Bill McCollum - myfloridalegal
Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink - CFOAlexSink
Florida Department of Agriculture marketing - freshfromFL
Florida Lottery - Fla _ Lottery
This list is by no means all of them, plus there are state employees who also maintain their own accounts on Twitter.
