Craig Mitnick, the CEO and co-founder of Nixle, a free Web-based "community information system" that the company says has been adopted by thousands of public safety agencies and governments at the local, state and federal levels. Citizens can subscribe to the "hyperlocal" content service, where they can receive
real-time information from their local police department, fire department and mayor.
Mitnick is no stranger to disseminating information as a former prosecutor, defense attorney and FOX News television analyst. He talked with
Government Technology about how social media has the changed the landscape of government-to-citizen communication.
Are you surprised that so many public safety agencies, in particular, have showed interest in Nixle and other secure messaging products?
The flow of information is continuing to change, and I think people want their information when they want it, over the device they want it over, and they want it to be relevant to them — or something that they're interested in. And traditional media cannot provide the real-time information. There's almost a false expectation in our world, given the success of social networking applications, that we're entitled to know what's going on, at the exact time it's going on, and to make it relevant to our life. Yet, in reality, there are [few] tools out there that allow for that.
Go to
Government Technology to read the rest of the interview with
Nixle’s Craig Mitnick.
Matt Williams is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine.
