WEST HOLLYWOOD—The City of West Hollywood indicated to Canyon News in a press release that on Thursday, June 1, they will be launching the pilot phase of a new text messaging program. This will serve as an innovative and personalized way for community members to stay connected to the City.
“I’m excited that the City of West Hollywood will begin using text messaging as one of the many ways we connect community members to City news and information,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne. “The new text platform is going to be so helpful for people who want to stay informed. I love the warm and conversational tone of Community and I’m looking forward to how the text platform will expand as the City covers new topics of community interest in the months to come.”
The pilot phase of the City’s new text message program will help the City receive direct feedback to help shape text communications that best respond to community interests and needs. During the coming months, the City will add functionality to the text tool for an expanded rollout with additional news, updates, and information and the City will launch an exuberant outdoor media campaign to help raise awareness about opting-in.
The City’s new text message program is built on the Community platform, which is currently used by corporations, public figures, sports teams, celebrities, and government entities such as President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Former First Lady Michelle Obama, The White House, and more. The platform helps users to choose subjects about which they prefer to receive text messages and will not distribute unrelated advertising or spam messages. As the first municipal government using Community, the City of West Hollywood will have a unique opportunity to help shape a new standard of government text communications.
The City’s new text message program joins an array of ways that the City works to engage with community members including:
City website news – www.weho.org/news
City events and meetings calendar – www.weho.org/calendar
Opt-in email subscriptions – www.weho.org/email
WeHoTV YouTube channel – www.youtube.com/wehotv
WeHo TV broadcast and streaming – www.weho.org/wehotv
The City maintains social media pages across all major platforms and urges community members to follow the City (@wehocity) and turn on notifications to get the latest news, updates, and information. Visit www.weho.org/socialmedia for details. The City’s text message program adds to many communications efforts that help keep people who live, work, and play in West Hollywood informed about City topics, such as citywide mailers, news releases, printed materials in City and community facilities, and outdoor media campaign materials placed on street lamps, fence locations, digital billboards, transit shelter posters, and more.
The city indicated that this new tool is not to be used for emergency alerts or notifications.
The City of West Hollywood and the West Hollywood Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Station provide community safety and emergency alerts/notifications via Nixle, which is used by more than 8,000 public safety agencies. Nixle alerts may include severe weather or traffic information, criminal activities details, missing persons alerts, and more. To opt-in text a West Hollywood ZIP code to 888777. More information is available at www.nixle.com. Los Angeles County, additionally, provides emergency mass notification text messages via Alert LA County; more information is available at https://ready.lacounty.gov/alerts
For more information about the City of West Hollywood’s text message program, please contact Jayce Simpson, City of West Hollywood Digital Media Officer, at (323) 848-6402 or at jsimpson@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
By Christianne
