The presentation was recently given at the NCTAPA, Focus North Texas symposium and the Texas APA Annual Conference in Austin 2011.

1. Using Social Media
Alexis Massaro AICP
Senior Planner
Jacobs
Dallas TX
Focus North Texas January 13, 2012

2. 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.

3. Social media is a b r o a d ,
interactive network

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Social Media’s BIG Four
 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

8. 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.

9. Facebook
 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.

10. Twitter
 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.

11. Using Facebook and Twitter
 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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

15. Realize Rowlett 2020 - Events
 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.

16. 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

17. More For Loop 1604 - Disclaimer

18. City of South Pasadena - Facebook
 City used FB to gain
feedback and
comments on their
Updated Bicycle
Master Plan.

19. City of Tacoma - Twitter
 Specific use for Twitter
to report potholes
 Encouraging open
dialogue

20. Los Angeles - Twitter
 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. "Twitter is a way to reach that whole demographic
(Millennial) that could be oblivious to the 405
closure," said an LAPD spokesman.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. Cons of Social Media
 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. We’re Adjourned
Thank you for participating!
Alexis.massaro@jacobs.com
Twitter - awomanworks
Focus North Texas January 13, 2012