This article first appeared on Broadsheet in August, 2017.
If you were in Melbourne last week, it was hard to miss the news that the city was voted World’s Most Liveable. Again. The title, which is awarded by the Economist, was given to Melbourne for a record seventh time and, unsurprisingly, the city was feeling pretty good about itself.
Especially, it would seem, the city’s official Twitter account, @cityofmelbourne, which posted a lighthearted mock-up of a fake text exchange with The Rest of The World asking Melbourne to please stop hogging the title.
Looks like we might need to get the sofa bed ready. #worldsmostliveablecity @TheEIU pic.twitter.com/BeGD8pmHE6— City of Melbourne (@cityofmelbourne) August 17, 2017
In the context of official social-media accounts for large bureaucratic organisations, it’s not a terrible effort.
But for any smiles it might have caused, it also gave rise to a few well-made points that for a city yet to deal with a range of legitimate problems, it might be a little unseemly to gloat.
It also triggered a classic piece of Sydney snark.
Within hours of City of Melbourne’s original post, City of Sydney had a few choice words for its southern neighbour. More specifically, a few choice songs.
Hey @cityofmelbourne, big congrats on being ranked number one (for the seventh time!). We made you a little playlist. Regards City of Sydney pic.twitter.com/rsf5pjRZ2a— City of Sydney (@cityofsydney) August 17, 2017
Not to be outdone, Melbourne came back with the council-twitter-account equivalent of pointing at the scoreboard.
Thanks @cityofsydney that's so kind. We don't really have time to listen to playlists, we prefer live music. https://t.co/oFaQmcLgZK— City of Melbourne (@cityofmelbourne) August 17, 2017
All in good fun, although it does perhaps leave both councils open to questions about whether this truly was time well spent … even on a Friday afternoon.
