The last thing the internet needs is another post with a five step plan telling you how to "do" Twitter. Instead, we want to point you in the way of someone who's doing it well. Last week, we chanced across Sevenoaks Police's Twitter page. What's so special about it? In a world full of social media experts/gurus/ninjas (delete as applicable), its a breath of fresh air: instead of the endless self promotion, retweets and follow Fridays that fill Twitter, this police force concentrates on original information that people following it are actually likely to find useful. it's a way for the force to demonstrate what it does, and also to get warnings out to the people it serves.
If you've read this far, you're probably thinking that this is not the first time that a police force has used Twitter, and you'd be right - Greater Manchester Police famously took to Twitter last year with a hugely successful project where the force tweeted every call that came in. However, this is no publicity stunt; police forces are using Twitter for its own sake, and it's very interesting to see what they're able to do - check out this picture of a siezed cannabis farm found by Salford North Police - especially given that these guys are operating on public sector budgets.
It's not perfect (from a PR point of view, it's probably unwise to tell people about successful speeding prosecutions) but it's refreshing to see Twitter used to inform rather than promote.
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