The key to the future of county and citizen connections lies in Facebook, according to a presentation at County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania from Wednesday.

A panel including members of Lackawanna County's Community Outreach and Community Relations departments, as well as public relations from Montgomery County, showed a presentation on the future of social media at the CCAP's last day of its annual conference. The focus of the meeting was on selecting, establishing and properly using services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to facilitate communication and connections to county residents.Lackawanna County has served as an educator on the topic, with the creation of Department of Community Relations in 2012. With several staff members who had experience with social media, the group struck out to use the services for the benefit of the county."At first, when we started five years ago, a lot of the taxpayers asked why we have this department, 'It's a waste of money, a no-show job,' " said Jim Rodway, deputy director for Community Relation of Lackawanna County. "But it turned out in the last five years, we handled many issues for the boroughs and school districts. … We're a conduit for a lot of the municipalities and school boards.""You can do a lot with social media, with a reasonable amount of effort, training and cost. You can reach a lot of people quickly, in a very impactful way, with the effort that you put into your social media accounts," Gerald Hetman, Community Relations Coordinator of Lackawanna County said.Hetman recommended Facebook as a particularly good tool for county organizations. Just about everyone uses the site, and it can be used to display of photographs, text, press releases and links that can easily be found and shared by residents.Twitter, although limited to 140 characters, is great for short and sweet notifications. Hetman made reference to the use of Twitter during the Boston Marathon bombing, where people were able to quickly disseminate information among the crowds.Pinterest functions well for sharing photos, which spreads awareness for topics quickly with eye-catching visuals in lieu of dense text.Hetman said that Lackawanna used their accounts to disseminate public safety notices, listing dates, times and locations for meetings, and posting photos from their public events.Fran Pantuso, community outreach manager of Lackawanna County, took time to illustrate the importance of content on social media."We use this as a vehicle to get all our information out there," she said.Pantuso showed graphics that the county has displayed on social media, including lists like "5 Top Things to Do in Lackawanna County," as well as advertisements for upcoming events such as the senior health care fair. Social media proved to be a key factor to boost attendance at county programs such as these.Montgomery County Commissioners Office PR Coordinator Jessica Willingham focused on the nuts-and-bolts of social media, citing the incredible number of users - Facebook along had 109 billion active users in March 2016 - to stress the opportunity for connection. She also noted the mobile versions of many accounts, which further increases accessibility.Willingham also noted the importance of keeping communications professional, and using content to link back to county websites for more information.With the incredible prevalence of social media sites and apps over the past few years, things like Facebook and Pinterest are proving to be a valuable tools for local government. That translates to the need for those groups to stay up to date with technology to keep residents informed and engaged."People want to get information 24/7, and they expect that your accounts are updated," Willingham said.