At the January 6 City Council meeting, Mayor Scott James Matheson honored the winners of the 2021 Valdosta Social Media Contest—an educational partnership between the City of Valdosta and Valdosta State University to propose the best social media strategy for its local government. This year's class was tasked with developing strategies to increase engagement on the Public Safety Departments' social media platforms.

Students from the winning team each received a professional letter of recommendation from the Mayor and challenge coins from the Police and Fire Departments. 

Recognizing that organizations worldwide — including municipalities — are using social media to communicate with increasingly diverse and large audiences, the city's Public Information Office continued a partnership with VSU's Social Media Theory class that began in 2015. Taught by Dr. David Nelson, the students were divided into groups and tasked with developing a realistic plan on increasing engagement on the Police and Fire Departments' social media platforms. The project, judged by the city's Public Information Office, constituted a large part of their overall class grade and provided a real-life experience for the university students.

The team's outstanding ideas are being implemented and will significantly impact how the local government communicates more effectively with its citizens.

Overall, these efforts have demonstrated the city's continued efforts to provide applicable experiences to our local university students, as well as the city's commitment to engage all citizens in local government.