Costa Mesa is Tweeting away

The city of Costa Mesa is now connected to Facebook and Twitter.

To communicate better with the public and become more transparent, Costa Mesa has launched Facebook and Twitter accounts, the city announced Monday in a news release.

“We’re excited to join the social media revolution and begin engaging in digital dialogues about Costa Mesa,” Bill Lobdell, the city’s interim director of communications, said in a prepared statement.

The city’s social media drive is part of a two-pronged strategy to improve public relations. The first part, which is taking place now, is to update the city’s website with new webpages concentrating on city news and newly available public documents, the release said. The second part will be an overhaul of the website aimed at making it easier to navigate.

The city will spend $50,000 for the website improvements out of a consultancy package costing $200,000, the release said.

— Imran Vittachi