@BILLHASLAM FIRST TENNESSEE GOVERNOR TO ENGAGE PUBLIC VIA SOCIAL MEDIA.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The following information was released by the State of Tennessee:

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is the first governor in the state's history to fully incorporate social media sites into his public outreach efforts and push state departments to aggressively engage the public through these online tools. The governor highlighted these efforts during remarks at the Tennessee Digital Government Summit in Nashville.

Haslam's online presence includes: 40,042 Facebook supporters; 8,388 Twitter followers; 1,072 LinkedIn connections; 17,305 YouTube views; 97,302 Flickr views; and 94,021 visits to tn.gov/governor since his inauguration.

As more and more Tennesseans turn to the internet for information, the Haslam administration's growing social media presence offers the general public additional outlets to participate in public discourse or access information about state government.

"Social media offers powerful tools that invite the public in and promote discussion," Haslam said. "Using these outlets, we can communicate directly with the online citizen about his or her state government in an environment where it is as easy as a click of the mouse to share information with family and friends."

Haslam and his communications office use Facebook and LinkedIn to network with Tennesseans while also using the governor's Twitter feed, Flickr photostream and his YouTube channel as other methods beyond speeches, appearances, news shows, interviews and press releases to communicate with the public.

State departments are also taking greater advantage of the opportunities social media presents with nearly all departments working to increase their online presence beyond the state's homepage of www.tn.gov.

"Civic engagement is critical to a healthy democracy, and increasing the state's online presence offers Tennesseans more alternatives to join the discussion on how to make our state a better place to live, work and play," Haslam added.