WhatsApp group or bulletin board: What is used in the localities?

• OfIna Tschakyrow

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Are bulletin boards still used in the localities of the unified municipality to inform residents, or only WhatsApp groups? The AZ spoke to local mayors about the advantages and disadvantages.

Kloster Neuendorf / Wollenhagen – a dog or cat is missing, a local council meeting is pending, a bank was damaged – such information is shared in the localities on bulletin boards and via WhatsApp groups.

In many towns there are bulletin boards on which the residents have been informed about events and the latest from the town for years. There have already been discussions as to whether the bulletin boards can be taken down and whether the notice boxes in which the city informs about local council meetings and the dates for the technical committees and city council meetings are sufficient. Among other things, it was argued that there are more and more WhatsApp groups for the localities, which are used to provide information.

What is used more in the localities? What information is disseminated where? Are bulletin boards still needed? And is everyone reached via WhatsApp?

The Altmark newspaper asked Andreas Höppner, mayor of Kloster Neuendorf, and Siegfried Jordan, mayor of Lindstedt with the districts of Lindstedterhorst and Wollenhagen. There are bulletin boards and WhatsApp groups in Kloster Neuendorf and in Lindstedt as well as in the districts. “Both are needed nowadays,” says Andreas Höppner. In April 2015 he created a WhatsApp group for Kloster Neuendorf. There are 103 members in the “Infos Kloster Neuendorf” group. According to the mayor, a large proportion of the people in Klosters are reached in this way and “it works well”. Newcomers also use the group to find their way around the new place.

Almost all families are informed

The “Wolle” group was created for Wollenhagen about three years ago. About 20 families are informed in this way. “This means that almost everyone can be reached,” says Siegfried Jordan. Neighbors will inform those who are not in the group. The mayor knows that there are also some older residents of Wollenhagen in the group. Information is also shared via WhatsApp groups for Lindstedt and Lindstedterhorst. For example about the districts, if a cat is missing or someone’s birthday. “Info Kloster Neuendorf” reports on announcements, dates, “everything that happens in Kloster Neuendorf”, says Andreas Höppner and cites the work in the cemetery as an example. About the WhatsApp group “people can be informed quickly”. Siegfried Jordan also sees it this way: “It’s usually faster”, but maintaining privacy is difficult, for example when congratulating. “But everyone decides for themselves,” says Wollenhagener. The bulletin board, Siegfried Jordan continues, “isn’t used that much anymore”. Only from the church or the agricultural cooperative and for the public announcements of the announcement box from the municipality, he adds. Nevertheless, the bulletin board will still be needed in the next few years, but in the future “modern technology” will be used for information, says Siegfried Jordan.

Different information

On the other hand, those who do not have a smartphone or WhatsApp can be reached via the bulletin board, which was set up in Kloster Neuendorf last year in the village center by the bus stop. In Kloster Neuendorf there is also current information, for example from the local council, as well as “search” or “sell” inquiries. Anyone can post something on the bulletin board, Andreas Höppner thinks it’s good. There, for example, data is also pinned to reach the local council members or the association. The WhatsApp group is more diverse, pictures are also shared or when the next garbage disposal tour takes place, Andreas Höppner can think of other examples.

Those who are in the group “think it’s good,” says the mayor, adding that there are no discussions in the group, only information is shared.

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