Traditionally, municipal entities have regarded their website as a place to put information that their constituents will search for and consume. It is traditional “push” technology. The thought process behind this type of site is “I know what you need to know and I will put it there for you to find”.

But what about the questions that I, as a constituent have, that you haven't anticipated? How do I find the right person in the city to present my question to? As a city employee, it may be obvious to you who could answer that question, and even how to get in touch with that expert. But I don't have the same access to the experts at the city level that you have.

A community website is the answer. For example, say I live in Anytown, and I notice that my trash bill went up this month by 10%. So I go to CityofAnytown.com and create an account for myself much like I would on Facebook. Once I am signed in, I can search discussion groups for mentions of the exact question I have. Unfortunately, I don't see anyone who has asked that question before, so I post a discussion topic with the title “Why is my trash bill more expensive this month?

Bob, a city employee in the services department, has set up an alert that emails him whenever the words “trash” and “bill” come up in a discussion topic. He reads my post and replies to the question on the discussion topic. He says, “The increase in the trash bills this month was due to an increase in fuel costs over the last several years. It is permanent, but will be revisited if fuel costs decrease.” Though I'm not happy about paying more for trash service, I am satisfied with the answer and respond to Bob's post with “Thanks Bob”. And I go on my way.

Other citizens are going to notice this increase too, and because they have gotten information from the city's website before, they sign in and do the same search I did. Only their experience is different than mine. They get results from their search and read the exchange between Bob and me. Satisfied, they click “this answers my question” on the discussion.

Soon lots of people are getting the answer they are looking for, and the city manager receives an automatic notification that this discussion topic is getting a lot of traffic. She notifies the webmaster who tweets the discussion topic link over the city Twitter account and creates a news item that appears on the front page of the site.

In no time, it's common knowledge in Anytown that there was an increase in the trash pickup fee and that it was due to rising fuel costs. Nobody's happy about it, but everyone understands.

How does this scenario play out today in Anytown? Probably very differently. Bob's phone is ringing constantly, and his whole staff knows to steer clear of him. Bob is having a bad day. We at Site-Now believe we can help the 'Bobs' of Anytown. A Site-Now community website can help keep these bad days to a minimum.