There’s an interesting new Twitter member from Mississippi called @Medicaid_Truth. I say interesting, because I can’t really tell if it’s the official Division of Medicaid or not.
It’s wallpaper is plastered with the official Mississippi Division of Medicaid logo, but the name is a little odd: Medicaid Truth.
The Department of Medicaid being on Twitter would be good if they were using social media to keep people informed about what is going on with the department.
But that’s not the case with this Twitter feed. If you read the page-full of posts that are there now, most — if not all — are politically charged.
Instead of keeping people informed of news from the Division of Medicaid, it seems their Twitter feed has opted to push the governor’s agenda. If this is in fact the Division of Medicaid, then this is a new level of politicizing that I don’t believe is healthy.
If it’s not the Division of Medicaid, then certainly Gov. Barbour will ask that this account remove their wallpaper so as not to mislead the general public into thinking this is their official stance. But my money’s on this being operated, if not by someone in Medicaid, then by the governor’s office or one of his political PACs.
Sam,
I agree, the whole idea of Twitter and Social Media is a high level of transparency. If someone is misrepresenting an official office this can be a very bad thing.
The problem is getting the Official Office of any State Department to recognize these issues and take them seriously.
On the flip side, this should give incentive to Officials to consider having a Twitter account (and other social media) and being proactive!
Best Regards,
David Cooley
Worse is that I’m quite certain this is someone in the administration, or a political ally of it, masquerading as the department. So I take issue with the way in which they are using it.
We use social media for political purposes, but we’re a political organization. I understand the governor doing the same (which he does). I think the House and the Senate should do likewise as certain members do.
But for a Department who services the health care of thousands of Mississippians to use their Twitter feed to push a political agenda is not right, in my viewpoint. At some point, public policy must trump politics, and it’s not happening with Medicaid right now.