Newsroom

DCFS Secretary Ruth Johnson challenges DHH Secretary to Twitter competition

September 23, 2010

In what is deemed as the first Twitter challenge among state officials, Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Secretary Ruth Johnson today challenged Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) Secretary Bruce Greenstein to a race for "followers."

"Followers" are other Twitter users who subscribe to a user's feed. The secretary with the most followers on November 1, 2010, wins a prize yet to be determined.

Johnson recently launched a Twitter stream, http://twitter.com/RuthatLADCFS, which she uses to share DCFS news and events, interesting articles about the agency, its work and the people it serves, services available to Louisianians, how to access those services and more.

Johnson launched the competition by tweeting this challenge: "I, @RuthatLADCFS, challenge @BruceonHealth to a Twitter race! The person with the most followers on November 1 wins!"

Greenstein, who tweets as @BruceonHealth, currently has more than 100 followers, which Johnson says is a disadvantage, but not a fatal blow.

"Even though Secretary Greenstein has an advantage with his technical background, formerly working for Microsoft, I decided to go ahead and spot him the 106 followers he already has," said Johnson. "I'm excited about this challenge and the opportunities for spreading DCFS' message on social media."

"I eagerly accept Secretary Johnson challenge," Secretary Greenstein said. "We began our New Media Initiative to expand transparency and accountability for the residents we serve. This challenge gives us a renewed energy to expand our reach and inform even more people - and hopefully by Nov. 1 even more people than my DCFS counterpart."

Follow Johnson at http://twitter.com/RuthatLADCFS. (You must have a Twitter account to follow a user and receive updates about tweets, however anyone can view Johnson's tweets at http://twitter.com/RuthatLADCFS.)