Social Mediaand

Public Works

Dave Lawry, P.E.Chastain and Associates LLC

Pam Broviak, P.E.Illinois Dept. of Transportation

Introductions

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

What is Social Media?

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

How does your agency currently communicate public works

activities with your community?

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

What do you think about the use of social media for public works?

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Definitions of Social MediaWikipedia – “Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.”

Merriam Webster – “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).”

Urban Dictionary – “participatory online media that utilizes the group to write and direct content, rather than a read-only media. Allows for direct contact between participants.”

BREAK(Tick Tock!)

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Group Discussions

• Elgin Blizzard • Peru Traffic Problem

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

BREAK(Tick Tock!)

• Opportunities• Technologies• Social Media Tools• Organizational Use• Challenges• Self Assessment

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Technology in our lives is increasing at an exponential rate

The importance of communication has increased

The rules have changed

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Keys to good communication

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Public Safety - Emergencies

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Messages

• traffic updates• road closures• Outages• Shelter• Hazards

• Grants• Support• emergency

updates/forecasts

Public Safety -

Emergencies

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

TwitterExample

Public Services

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Messages

• Availability• Disruptions• Schedules• Cost• payment

information

• Improvements• guidelines

Public Services

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Live Mapping Example

Public Plans & Improvements

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Messages

• project description• purpose and need• Timeline• disruptions• general information• status updates

Public Plans & Improvements

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

BloggingExample

Public Events

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Messages

• Description• schedule

Public Events

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Flickr Example

Education/Training

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Messages

• Policies• Procedures• Safety• civic duty and responsibility

Education/Training

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

http://youtu.be/jDh12w-jcfs

Audience

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Platform

Timeline

Challenges

• Education – who, how, where, and if

• Inconsistent use – Sporadic use of social media; sites not maintained or updated

• Responsiveness – Information is posted; no one responds to questions or comments

posted

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Challenges• Competing messages – everyone is a

publisher

• Competing platforms – not found on every platform or in every online community

• Trust - no public trust of information

• Legal

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

Perspective & Understanding

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

From the Sept. 27, 2013, post by: http://www.949thebull.com

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

What is your organization doing right?

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

What is your organization doing wrong?

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

What are the challenges to use of social media in your

community?

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS

What do you think about the use of social media for public works?

Thank You! Questions?

Pam Broviak, PEPublic Works Grouppwg@publicworksgroup.comTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/pbroviakLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pbroviakSlides at: http://www.slideshare.net/publicworksgroup

Dave Lawry, PEChastain & Associatesdlawry@hlcllp.comhttp://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-lawry/17/157/b20http://www.twitter.com/dlawry

SOCIAL MEDIA and PUBLIC WORKS