The Incredible Jun: a town that runs on social media!

Jun, pronounced “hoon”, is a small Spanish town situated in the foothills outside Granada in Spain. With a population of 3,500 people, the town is home to one of the most active Twitter users in the world. Its mayor, Rodríguez Salas, has spent the last five years changing the running of the city. He challenged conventional boundaries of administrative work and domestic communications.

A citizen who has a question, request or complaint tweets it to the mayor or one of his staff. They work to resolve the matter. Via Twitter, townspeople have started to manage their day-to-day activities. Feeling ill? Book an appointment with your doctor through a Twitter direct message. Saw a robbery or a suspicious activity? Share the details with the local police in a tweet and include a picture of the crime scene while you’re at it. Upset about some law that was just enacted? Tweet your concerns and tag the mayor himself. For instance, a citizen alerts the mayor to a broken street lamp. Two tweets later, it’s fixed. Efficient, right?

Of course, traditional paperwork still exists, like completing forms at the town hall for public services. But Salas said they had saved $380,000 from the local budget since starting to use Twitter. They’ve been saving 13 per cent annually since 2011. Using Twitter has also reduced the need for some jobs. Jun cut its police force
to just one officer after residents began tweeting potential problems directly to the mayor. “We don’t have one police officer,” Mr Rodríguez Salas said. “We have 3,500.” By using Twitter in every aspect of daily life, this Spanish town shows how cities can use social networks to offer public services in a better way.