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Online viewers of town site rising

More people are using the Internet to get information about the Town of Black Diamond. “It’s been a continual slow and steady increase in followers,” said Verna Staples, legislative services manager.
Verna Staples, Black Diamond legislative services manager, reviews the Town’s Facebook and website quarterly report, which shows a slow and steady increase in use.
Verna Staples, Black Diamond legislative services manager, reviews the Town’s Facebook and website quarterly report, which shows a slow and steady increase in use.

More people are using the Internet to get information about the Town of Black Diamond.

“It’s been a continual slow and steady increase in followers,” said Verna Staples, legislative services manager. “There is always room for improvement, but I’m pretty happy with it. It means people are finding something of value there”

Statistics provided by Black Diamond administration shows visits to Black Diamond’s website reached 5,548 the last quarter of 2016 and Facebook likes reached 1,269.

While these numbers aren’t staggering, Staples is pleased considering the Town has no staff dedicated to online updates.

“We don’t have people here trained to do that so it was a learning moment for us to step up and continue to provide the service to people,” she said.

“We have a couple of different staff members who are taking part in getting those posts out to people.”

The Town created a Facebook page shortly after the 2013 southern Alberta flood resulted in lost power and Internet access to some areas of town for days, said Staples.

“Cell phones were the only thing working for the majority of people so we had to find a way to reach folks,” she said.

“It was something we knew we were going to eventually do to better communicate with our residents on a daily basis.

Staples said the Town set a goal of two posts a week on its Facebook page, often containing reminders for things like dog licenses, changes to garbage collection and council meetings, as well as upcoming events and programs, said Staples.

Following a request for more information and updates by residents in a citizen satisfaction survey held in late 2015, the staff are now posting about five times a week, she said.

“Our citizen satisfaction survey showed people wanted more of it,” she said.

“They indicated strongly that they liked what they were seeing and wanted more information and more appearance on their feed from the Town.”

Subjects receiving the most likes relate to community events like Light Up Black Diamond, as well as the new set of lights in town, information about the Parks Canada passes and crime reports, according to the data provided.

“It’s a very big tool for us in helping to share information and to make sure that people have access to information using the tool that they clearly like to use,” said Staples.

The data also shows that 76 per cent of those accessing the Facebook page were women and the most views came from Calgary, then Black Diamond, Okotoks, Turner Valley, Millarville and High River.

Among the most popular keywords people looked for on the website was jobs, garbage collection, population, Scott Seaman Sports Rink, light up and map, according to the report.

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