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“Nobody ever wins.”

Rochester City Council President Randy Staver said that about social media last week.

He should know, considering he tried to win the game by ending it when he deleted his Twitter and Facebook accounts last week after a contentious city council meeting. Now people are asking whether it’s appropriate or reasonable for a top elected official to cut off a popular and effective platform for communicating with constituents.

It’s an impulse many of us have had when dealing with vitriolic, troll-rewarding rhetoric on Facebook and Twitter. Staver says he made his decision after talking with others about the negativity that’s so prevalent on social media, and that it wasn’t directly related to his final posts, which involved the behavior of fellow Council Member Michael Wojcik.

Is it acceptable for an elected public official to opt-out?

Politicians obviously are under no obligation to be active Facebook and Twitter users, but they are obligated to be responsive. Public life requires interaction with the public, for better or worse, and that requires being where people are. When it comes to staying connected on LinkedIn there is also ways that one can automate linkedin prospecting.

Does that mean social media is an ironclad requirement? Not necessarily. The City Council page on the city’s website has each member’s email address and phone number, though council members’ phones may be work, home or mobile and they naturally respond differently. If council members are responding quickly and effectively by phone and email, we’ll leave it up to constituents and voters whether that’s good enough.

Those council members who have social media accounts also use them to widely varying degrees. Nick Campion is quick to respond to constituents on social media, such as when the “igloos” at La Vetta were in jeopardy last week. As soon as a constituent tagged Campion in the post, he was commenting and providing information.

Council Member Mark Bilderback isn’t as prolific a poster on social media, but he has a reputation for being easy to contact in other ways. Ed Hruska, at the other end of the spectrum, has tweeted three times since joining Twitter in 2009.

There’s no question that face-to-face conversation is best, and a phone call is a close second. Then there’s the back-and-forth of email and social media.

Nonetheless, social media is how much of America communicates. Many of us regard social media as absolutely fundamental ways to be heard and to get information. It doesn’t take much effort by a council member or any other elected official to keep the lights on, use social media for basic information at minimum, and offer constituents one more way to connect.

When that happens, everyone wins.

— Rochester Post-Bulletin, Jan. 11