Having ‘mastered’ Twitter, Mayor Bowser sets her sights on Snapchat

Just over a week after Development Counsellors International named Mayor Muriel Bowser near the top of a ranking of “Tweet Elite” mayors, Bowser (or someone on her team) has turned her attention on a new social platform — Snapchat. Or, as she called it in a tweet: SnapChat.

The cat's out the bag! Follow us on SnapChat. Our username is TeamMuriel! https://t.co/rp1R41jNkX

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) April 7, 2016

TeamMuriel’s first story? A look at her visit to the Nats season opener, and the moment when she gave the key to the city to fun-loving outfielder Bryce Harper.
“Are you offering training classes?” Fox 5 anchor Matt Ackland quipped on Twitter. “Haha I’ll still learning Matt, but so far so good,” the Mayor’s account responded.
“Learning” is a fair description. The video featured clips shot in not just one but both horizontal orientations — an unusual variety of a double Snapchat faux pas, imho. But never mind, everyone’s entitled to a learning curve, especially with new (well, relatively) technology.

And Bowser’s team seems really enthusiastic about the new account. Deputy press secretary Jordan Bennett told Technical.ly that the account is part of a push to “meet people where they are” through social media. Bennett hopes the account will be spontaneous and genuine, allowing a window for citizens to get a behind the scenes look at what it takes to run the city, as well as “get to know the real Mayor.”
You may recall the White House joined Snapchat back in January, and at the time we remarked that a bunch of the 2016 candidates are using the app to tell campaign stories as well. Indeed, the messaging platform is popular among those seeking higher office as a way to reach coveted #millennials, but it’s unclear how many U.S. mayors have accounts.
A quick Google search reveals that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined a year ago (I mean, Snapchat is based in Venice Beach), and the City of Orlando advertises an account as well.
Reached for comment, a Snapchat spokesman added that the City of Las Vegas has a “fairly active” city-level account, but declined to provide any data on who else might be using the platform.
In any case, welcome to Snapchat, Mayor Bowser! We hope you enjoyed this snap we made for you: