The City of Tyler has made an effort lately to make a broader use of social media, and reach residents in new ways.

That has paid off now with an award from the Texas Municipal League. Tyler won the award for something you can download to your smart phone, PC, or tablet.

The 2012 Municipal Excellence Award in Communications was given to Tyler during the Texas Municipal League's annual conference in Grapevine recently. The award recognizes Tyler for its 2011 E-Annual Report, viewed as the best communication tool among Texas cities of more than 25,000 residents.

Mayor Barbara Bass says in a statement, “As people become increasingly dependent upon websites and social media for their news and entertainment, it is vital for us, as a Municipal Government, to offer information in a format that fits into our citizens’ daily lives.”

The city used to print hard copies of that big report, but moved to the electronic version to save money. Instead of printing 25,000 copies, they still print 5,000 so those without Internet access can still access the info. That saved about $10,000 and led to the award.

The report even has the QR codes inside it that, when scanned, will take you to a youtube video.

So while we're on our smart phones Facebookin' and Tweetin', we can learn a thing or two about our fair city too. Nice goin' Tyler!

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