using social media for urban planning projects
DESCRIPTION
The presentation was recently given at the NCTAPA, Focus North Texas symposium and the Texas APA Annual Conference in Austin 2011.TRANSCRIPT
Focus North Texas
Alexis Massaro AICPSenior PlannerJacobsDallas TX
Using Social Media
January 13, 2012
Agenda
Who uses social media and why is it a useful tool?
How to use social media tools as part of your projects?
Examples of where social media is being used and how it was successful.
Briefly talk about lessons learned.
Social media is a b r o a d , interactive network
Social Media Users
Ages 18-35; Ages 12-25 tend to use more mobile social media tools (texting and apps).
The main social media users used to be teens and young adults, has shifted in the last two years.
Increasing among 35 and over.
More women are using social networks than men.
Useful Communication Tool
Interaction is embedded in to their platforms.
Promotes discussions and easy way to collect notes.
Increased collaboration and transparency.
Social networking has the ability to disseminate information in a very timely manner.
How To Use Social Media
First a strategy is needed
Start with a project website. This remains as the hub for all other social networking.
It can be piggybacked on the cities official website or directly part of it.
From there the project team can decided which social media sites to engage.
Facebook – 92% MySpace – 29% LinkedIn – 18% Twitter – 13 % Facebook and Twitter
users are engaged more on a daily basis than MySpace or LinkedIn
*Pew Internet Life Project – June 2011
Social Media’s BIG Four
TOP Two
Facebook and Twitter, the best in terms of engaging your community.
Facebook has evolved from a popular college forum to a place to “help people communicate more effectively” (FB Factsheet)
Both are becoming increasingly popular among business, organizations and cities.
800 Million active users.
More and more cities and organizations are bolstering their communications effort and their transparency through Facebook.
Examples - City of Austin, City of Dallas, City of Houston, City of McKinney, City of Frisco, City of Leander, City of Rowlett, etc.
140 characters Averages almost 50
million tweets per day “Tweets” are being housed
in the Library of Congress. They constitute a part of the “universal body of human knowledge”.
Follow friends, colleagues, companies, organizations, etc. in order to filter news and information based on interests.
Easy to create an account and then link other accounts.
Easy to upload images, draft plans, and photos. Do not need an IT degree.
Twitter search is also powerful. Provides anyone interested or living in your city to find out about the project.
Both sites create a timeline of the project.
Using Facebook and Twitter
Realize Rowlett 2020
The city’s update to its comprehensive plan.
We created a project website, project logo, as well as FB, Twitter and Linkedin accounts for the project.
Realize Rowlett 2020 - Facebook We used FB in a variety
of ways for the project. We posted all
community meetings and events to the Facebook page.
Ahead of the events we would use the site to gain interest for the events by posting questions or a conducting a short poll.
We uploaded photos from the events.
Realize Rowlett 2020 - Twitter At each community
workshop or charrette we encouraged participants with smartphones or laptops to post comments on FB and Twitter – during the event.
We developed a special hashtag for people to use that were commenting and tweeting live during the events.
#rowlett, #rrc2020
The participants made general comments and posted pictures on sites during the events.
We had a table setup dedicated to SM accounts so citizens could become more familiar.
Invited middle schools students to participate as well. They were very active on the FB pages.
Realize Rowlett 2020 - Events
More For Loop 1604 – San Antonio
Loop 1604 utilized social media as part of the project
Streamed all meetings to website
Developed Social Media “How To” Guide
More For Loop 1604 - Disclaimer
City of South Pasadena - Facebook
City used FB to gain feedback and comments on their Updated Bicycle Master Plan.
City of Tacoma - Twitter
Specific use for Twitter to report potholes
Encouraging open dialogue
Los Angeles - Twitter
"Twitter is a way to reach that whole demographic (Millennial) that could be oblivious to the 405 closure," said an LAPD spokesman.
Carmageddon was closure of the 405 Interstate in LA this summer.
Many businesses were forced to close during the two day period. And many residents were stuck at home and landlocked.
Disaster and Emergency Management
Twitter - being used mostly as an informational source with speed and news being paramount.
Facebook - tend to be more of a place for public discussion and community building with more depth (ie. multi-media) and emotional involvement often for average citizens.
In a crisis, the two platforms will be used similarly to distribute and solicit emergency information.
Pros of Social Media
Opportunity for immediate feedback.
People and processes more visible.
Increases participation by wider audience, namely younger adults.
Can lead to a more personalized connection with citizens.
Cost-effective . Increased collaboration.
Some local governments have banned sites.
Fear among top officials that social media will open up more criticism.
New content and engaging materials is required. Important not to let your sites “die”.
Viewed as fluff and not productive.
Not the same as getting feedback in person through meetings and charrettes.
Cons of Social Media
Lessons Learned
Understand who your target audience is and where they are already engaging.
Strategy is necessary, use sites where most comfortable.
Keep dialogue flowing and seed productive conversations.
Facebook’s Fan Page dashboard provides statistics and Twitter analytics can measure engagement levels of your tweets.
Technology is the vehicle but the message is still critically important.
Conclusions
Organizations and local governments are increasingly using social media sites, for organizing around place-based planning issues.
Provides the ability to conduct outreach at a new and exciting level.
Strong community support produces better plans.
Focus North Texas
We’re Adjourned
Thank you for participating!
[email protected] - awomanworks
January 13, 2012