Washington State Dept of Transportation on Twitter - nice job!

By now you've seen the photo of the overhanging buses, heard the mockery of Fargo, for the Redmond wimpiness and realized that Seattleites just can't drive in the snow.

If you need even more voyeurism (or are just trying to get to that last-minute Christmas purchase and need a heads up, check out the Twitter feed for the state dept of transportation https://twitter.com/wsdot.  They also have a blog here: https://wsdotblog.blogspot.com/ .

What I found fascinating was when I followed WSDOT on twitter, THEY decided to follow me. On the one hand, having a government agency hear about my cat seems like a waste of tax dollars. On the other hand, see how they are using with their customers  below....I've been impressed with the two-toned approach  (remember my previous community tips where I tried to advise folks? I think WSDOT has walked the right line).

They likely auto-generate tweets about the problems on the highways, like

 "I-5 southbound to 164th st sw accident blocking offramp - fire dept , incident response team , state patrol on scn https://tinyurl.com/4h6ayv 19 minutes ago from web"

 But they are keeping it real with these tweets from humans.... 

@NotJoelShapiro, @PeterEllis, @zaatar Can't give personal reports, wouldn't be able to keep up. Be prepared and drive for winter conditions

 Be sure to take the time to check on your neighbor, see if they need any help, we are all in this together. #seatst #pdxtst #watst about 3 hours ago from web

.... and humor....

@jvreagan - busy morning? We've been here since the 13th. However, I've decided snow officially became a nuisance at 6:00 am this morning about 4 hours ago from web in reply to jvreagan

And response has been positive, such that one person wants to study how this all went down...

@badsquare - send us an email at webfeedback@wsdot.wa.gov and we can chat about how invaluable Twitter has been for us about 3 hours ago from web

The WSDOT traffic maps of current road conditions have been an amazing resource ever since they first put them up, and it's great to see them using even more online tools to assist customers.

Live it vivid!