Council to increase social media use to reach more

The Timaru District Council has plans to expand social media use with a focus on ‘‘organic’’ growth, a council spokesman says.

It comes after figures requested by the Taxpayers’ Union show the council spent $700 in the year to June on professional networking site LinkedIn.

That figure is dwarfed by the top spender, the Auckland City Council, which paid a staggering $187,870 for LinkedIn and Facebook content.

A Timaru District Council spokesman said the money spent on LinkedIn last year was most likely used for recruitment of staff. ’’We have used social media in the past, mainly to increase public engagement over the Long Term Plan.’’

However, it had plans to increase use of social media, with a focus on garnering an ‘‘organic’’ following, rather than spending money to promote content and attract followers. ’’There is no specific budget for it, as we are targeting organic growth of followers,’’ he said.

‘‘We have plans to increase engagement using social media sites such as Facebook and Neighbourly, as they offer an excellent and free way of engaging with our local communities and enabling them to provide feedback to us.’’

Spending money to promote content on social media sites allowed the council to spread information and news to more ratepayers.

It was another way of providing useful content to ratepayers, he said. However, promoting content was not a default policy.

‘‘It would have to be considered on its merits, on a case by case basis.’’

A large percentage of residents used social media as a way of accessing news and information. ’’Particularly younger ones, so it would be foolish of us to ignore this important channel.’’

It considered social media as another form of advertising.

‘‘We would consider it in the same category as newspaper and radio advertising, which we already do.’’

Finger stuck in toy truck

Timaru firefighters were called to a slightly unusual incident on Monday night after a child got his finger stuck in a Tonka toy truck. A Fire Service spokesman said a crew from the Timaru station was called to Timaru Hospital about 11.38pm on Monday. A child had got his finger stuck in a Tonka toy, and firefighters were called to assist hospital staff, he said. The incident had a happy ending, with the boy’s finger safely removed from the toy, the spokesman said.

Passer-by puts out car fire

A car fire in Timaru was extinguished thanks to the quick actions of a passer-by. A Washdyke fire crew attended a call-out for a car fire on Morgans Rd at 3.30pm only to find the fire was almost completely out, station officer Neville Petersen said. A driver had noticed the small car fire and used a water extinguisher to douse most of the flames in two minutes. The Washdyke crew were on site for a few minutes to give the car another splash to ensure it would not reignite. The fire had been caused by a catalytic converter malfunctioning, a device most modern cars had to reduce carbon emissions, Petersen said. ‘‘It is the first fire I have attended because of that.’’

Crash and fight

A Temuka youth, 18, has been charged with wilful damage and speaking threateningly after a car crash and physical fight at 2pm on Sunday. Constable Ben Grant, of Temuka said charges were also pending for other parties after two vehicles crashed on Richard Pearse Drive in Temuka. Following the crash, the two occupants were involved in a physical altercation. Both men involved were from the Temuka area.

Police are looking for anyone who witnessed the vehicles colliding to contact Temuka police.

Man attempts drifting

An Oamaru man has been charged with attempting to steal a drift car while intoxicated. Constable Paul Alden, of Waimate, said an Oamaru man, 49, was charged with unlawfully taking a drift car during the Drift Battles on Saturday night. The man got into a parked vehicle and initially tried to drive away, when he was spotted by another driver. The man then stalled the vehicle twice. He was restrained by security until police arrived. He was charged with excess breath alcohol, recording 1045 micrograms per litre of breath.

Alden said the man was lucky he was not able to drive away, as he would have caused damage and ‘‘chaos’’. Police were overall happy with the crowd behaviour at the event, after a ‘‘steady’’ weekend.

One injured in crash

A person has been taken to hospital after crashing into another vehicle on the TimaruTemuka Highway. A St John spokesman said emergency services were called out to a car crash on the Timaru-Temuka Highway at 7.53pm on Monday night. One person was taken to Timaru Hospital with moderate injuries.