I have always thought regionally, the City of Omaha has a good functioning website. Could it look better? Well, anything can look better. But does it function well. I think so.
We spend thousands of dollars a year to host a city website, it should function and it should be the FIRST place people go for information. In the wake of the latest communication breakdown with city hall, there was mass confusion on messaging that I attributed to the city relying to much on Facebook games and not what we already have, a city website.
Is there anything wrong with having a city Twitter page or Facebook page? Not at all, but it should NOT be the place to get OFFICIAL information especially in the wake of a natural disaster.
As you can see below, Omaha’s site is easy to navigate. One of the features I found intriguing, besides the fact that there is tons of news and information scrolling across the page constantly, is you have a language translation option. I’m not sure how many languages are spoken in Sioux Falls, but I do recall a SFSD official saying something that it is well over 50. The other great feature about the search engine is it actually works! When you type in a topic, it will provide links and those links will send you to the place you need to go ON THE CITY WEBSITE, not some other site that doesn’t work in some browsers (like the SF city website does).
When it comes to messaging and communicating with the public, I always tell people that the KISS theory works the best. It’s simple, let’s just use the city website to get out this official information, and when someone asks ‘Where do I go?’ You answer, ‘Siouxfalls.org will provide you with all the information you need.
I love technology, but like everything else, if something isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The city’s website could work just fine in disseminating information, now if we can just get the mayor and city employees off of Facebook long enough to make it operational and functional.
