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City Hall a (nearly) Twitter-free zone (CORRECTED)

6/29/2009 Correction: Hoax! It turns out City Hall is a completely Twitter-free zone. Mayor Nutter does NOT have a Twitter account, but there is somebody posing as him on Twitter. Unlike lots of other impostors, this phony didn't post anything wildly controversial or strange. Instead the tweets were benign and plausible-sounding messages such as "Happy Father's Day to all" and "Be sure to check out our terrific parks systems on a day like today." Regardless, Mayor_Nutter is not in fact Mayor Nutter. Heard In City Hall really, really regrets this idiotic error.

The incorrect original post follows:

In Washington D.C., Twitter has quickly become an obsession of the city's political elite. Senators and representatives use the service to live-tweet sessions of Congress, respond to constituents, make the case for their positions and so on. Lobbyists and non-profits tweet to drive their messages.

But in Philadelphia's City Hall, tweets are seldom heard.

With the exception of Mayor Nutter, not one elected city official has a public Twitter account. And even the mayor is just getting started, filing only 35 status updates since his first on April 27th, which read: "working hard to get this budget passed."

Other Nutter tweets so far have included, "DiNic's roast pork always hits the spot," and, "talk to your councilman about the Board of Revision of Taxes if you think we need to start over."

The 255 Twitterers following the mayor as of press time were largely reporters, political operatives and public policy wonks. But he's looking for more fans: "Much thanks to everyone following, but we need to spread the word. Get your friends to follow," Nutter posted on June 18.

City Council fares a little better on the social networking site Facebook, where council members Maria Quinones Sanchez, W. Wilson Goode Jr., Curtis Jones Jr. and Blondell Reynolds Brown all have public pages. Councilman Jim Kenney is nowhere to be found, but he has been known to go blog at some local political sites from time-to-time.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.