Twitter has announced two digital events this week in the midst of the coronavirus crisis: The first is a Q&A with state governors, in which the governors of over a dozen states will participate; the second connects citizens with various city mayors. The #AsktheGov event will be running Thursday, and the #AsktheMayor event will run Friday.
Governors from the following states will participate:
- Rhode Island
- Virginia
- California
- Maryland
- Arkansas
- Michigan
- Alabama
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- Washington
- New Jersey
- Ohio
- New Hampshire
- Illinois
#AsktheMayor will include mayors from nine major cities:
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Chicago
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Dayton, Ohio
- Denver
- Salt Lake City
- Philadelphia
- San Jose, California
- Seattle
"Empowering [governors and mayors] to facilitate productive conversation, and help their constituents get the most [helpful] public health information" is the primary goal of the event, said Bridget Coyne, public policy director at Twitter. "We want individual [citizens] to have a one-to-one connection [with their elected officials]."
When asked whether this event might be the first of many such events during the health crisis, Coyne emphasized Twitter's goal to provide useful services to its users: "We're evolving the messaging and evolving ... the solutions to meet the needs of the day."
If you want to follow either event, search the hashtags #AsktheGov or #AsktheMayor on Twitter.