The document provides analytics and metrics on Fairfax County's website and digital properties for 2012. Some key findings include: - The county website had over 6.7 million unique visitors in 2012, a 5% increase from 2011. - Library, job, and tax pages were among the top 10 most visited pages. - Homepage click patterns remained consistent, with 75.7% of clicks going to 29 links. - Overall website satisfaction declined in all categories from 2011 according to surveys. - Traffic to the county's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and emergency blog pages all saw positive increases. - Satisfaction with the county's Facebook and Twitter was over 80% according to surveys.

1. Web and Social
Metrics Report
2012
W
Website Analytics, Search and Satisfaction
M
Mobile
S
Social Media
A publication of Fairfax County, Va. // March 2013

2. Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................... 3
Action Steps and Recommendations ..................................................... 4
Website Analytics .................................................................................. 6
Heat Maps and Clicks ........................................................................... 9
Website Satisfaction Surveys ................................................................. 17
Search on fairfaxcounty.gov ................................................................... 18
Mobile ................................................................................................... 19
Social Media .......................................................................................... 20
Facebook ................................................................................................ 21
Facebook Satisfaction Survey ................................................................ 22
Twitter ................................................................................................... 24
Twitter Satisfaction Survey .................................................................... 25
YouTube ................................................................................................. 27
Emergency Blog .................................................................................... 29
2

3. INTRODUCTION
What’s in a number?
What do our residents look for on our digital properties?
How can we improve the customer experience for our public?
Data can tell many stories. The following pages illustrate a year in the life of many of the county’s key online prop-
erties. These numbers tell a story of what interests our community online. As more people engage or embark into
digital tools, this data becomes an even more valuable roadmap for future investments of time and resources.
Some of the highlights include:
• 6.7 million unique visitors to fairfaxcounty.gov, a 5% increase from 2011.
• The average website visit lasts just 1 minute and 11 seconds.
• 56% of people found fairfaxcounty.gov pages through a commercial search engine like Google.
• Library, job and tax pages took 9 slots of the top 10 most visited pages.
• Homepage click patterns remain remarkably consistent; 75.7% of clicks go to only 29 links.
• Overall website satisfaction is down in all categories from 2011.
• Searches on fairfaxcounty.gov increased 174% in 2012.
• Every metric for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the emergency blog reflected positive increases.
• Satisfaction with county Facebook and Twitter stands at more than 80%.
• Residents feel more connected to their government through our use of social media.
The Internet is critical to the functioning of a modern economy and society. Most organizations absolutely need
high performing websites. But what is a high performing website? How do we define it?
This data gives us some initial insight.
While we have many popular services and pages, we have room for improvement. The next pages specifically cite
areas that need focus based on the data.
If you have any questions about this report, contact Greg Licamele in the Office of Public Affairs.
3

4. ACTION STEPS & RECOMMENDATIONS
The data in this report provide ample evidence to address key areas that need attention. The action steps and
recommendations suggested below are not comprehensive because digital tools like websites should always be
improving and adapting to the times. Many of the ideas that follow focus on customer service, which is critical to
serving our customers in ways that enable quick, easy, findable and intuitive transactions.
DTA Car Tax Pages
It’s very clear the public relies heavily on the county website to pay car taxes, which is ideal because it costs the
county less if the transaction is conducted online rather than in person or over the phone with staff. In 2012, the
average pages per visit for all of fairfaxcounty.gov was 3.98. However, on Oct. 5 – the car tax deadline – that num-
ber rose dramatically to 8.38 pages. It’s recommended all DTA car tax payment pages be analyzed to reduce the
number of pages, if possible, the public must encounter to pay taxes.
Jobs
Three of the top 10 pages in 2012 were for jobs. All three pages appear to be very similar, so it’s recommended
that these pages be reviewed and streamlined so the public has an easier and quicker experience in viewing county
jobs.
Police Financial Crime Reporting
This system received significant negative feedback on satisfaction surveys throughout 2012. It needs to be closely
examined to see how it can be made more usable for the public.
Top 40 Pages
In addition to DTA and HR, all top 40 pages should be analyzed closely to see how the pages serve the public. If
it’s a service, is there a logical flow to the page so we respect our public’s time and make it easier to find what they
are looking for? How do we work to improve the satisfaction of our pages, which declined in 2012? These top 40
pages were very similar to 2011, so appropriate actions must be taken to optimize our most accessed content.
Continue with Homepage Redesign
Last May, a redesigned homepage was put forth for public and employee comment. The draft design was viewed
with overwhelming satisfaction, according to a survey. This project should move forward in 2013 as the 2012 data
further supported the need to redesign the homepage to match metrics. The number of links on the homepage
will be reduced; the most clicked links based on all data will be featured prominently; and a cleaner, easier to view
design will be implemented.
4

5. ACTION STEPS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Search Engine Optimization
When more than half of the county website’s traffic comes from third-party search engines, that gives us insight
into how our public looks for and finds our information. We must work doubly hard to ensure all pages, especially
the top pages and keywords, are optimized for search engines through a variety of best practices that’s common
to web content maintenance. Search Engine Optimization is critical for all county web publishers to understand
and execute well because more than 56% of county website traffic – or more than 8 million visits – resulted from a
search on Google, Yahoo! or Bing. That’s significant. If we want our content to be found, then it needs to adhere to
search best practices. The satisfaction survey shows a slide in county search engine results that must be addressed.
The top search keywords and query data in this report must be followed up to see if the right results appear as the
first or second option for the public.
Begin Using Google+
Google+ is another social media platform that continues to grow. Because Google+ is so closely tied to the Google
search engine, it’s important that Fairfax County content have a presence. Testing has already begun on Google+
and county posts appeared on the first page of results when searching for “Fairfax County.” That’s great placement
to further amplify county key messages, especially during emergencies.
Align Mobile
Currently, fairfaxcounty.gov homepage content does not match the mobile website at m.fairfaxcounty.gov. We
should closely look at the mobile experience and put forth key services and options that will be part of the forth-
coming redesigned homepage. And while we see the beginnings of the mobile device revolution in the data, we
can fully expect these numbers to rise steadily in the coming years. We need to be designing and thinking about
the mobile experience now, not retrofitting content years from now.
Web Content Review Process
Moving into 2013, the forthcoming Web Content Review Process will affect all agencies. This process will be crit-
ical to establishing some common baselines across our website. As “Team Fairfax” we must move forward together
because people do not understand our organizational structure, especially on our website. It’s just the county to
the majority of people. We must focus on the customer – our public – and publish information and create services
that are useful and user-friendly. Too many of our website pages look and feel very different and this process will
address some of those key issues in a systematic way.
5

6. WEBSITE ANALYTICS
The Urchin and Crazy Egg analytics tools provide an overview of how the public accesses content. The data from
both sources reinforces previously documented patterns especially that selected content and services are regularly
accessed.
How Many 2012 2011
Unique Visitors 6,759,247 6,427,464 +5.1%
People Visited
Visits 16,733,684 14,613,547 +14.5%
the Website? Page Views 59,118,623 +12.6%
66,548,356
• The two busiest days on fairfaxcounty.gov in 2012:
* Oct. 5 (Car Tax Deadline):
89,153 visits /747,031 page views
* Nov. 5 (Pre-Election Day):
85,170 visits /321,850 page views
(2012 daily averages: visits=45,720; 181,826=page views)
• 3.98: On average, users visited 3.98 pages per visit, yet 45% of all
How Engaged visitors only viewed 1 page per visit.
Were
• 8.38: The largest page per visit spike occured Oct. 5 when users
Visitors? averaged 8.38 pages per visit.
• 71: On average, people visited the site for 71 seconds.
• 63% of visits were returning visitors, while 37% were new visitors.
6

7. •
Where Did
Visitors Come
From?
• Search! Google.com searches led to nearly half of the 16 million
total county website visits in 2012.
• In total, more than 56% of all visitors found the county website
content through a search engine.
• 22% found content through “direct/none” sources. Recent research
indicates this statistic includes sources such as links in email news-
letters, social media, browser bookmarks, chat sessions and direct
typing of web addresses.
• Another 22% of visitors found the county website through refer-
rals such as the county intranet, FCPS.edu, social media sites that
provide referral data, media sites and more.
7

8. Page Visits (2011Comparison)
What Pages 1.) Library Homepage 3,176,235 +9.90%
Were Visited 2.) County Homepage 1,996,750 -10.22%
3.) Job Listing Info 828,896 -7.00%
the Most?
4.) DTA Tax Homepage 762,760 +10.87%
5.) Job Openings 760,793 +5.37%
6.) Job Openings 740,993 -3.92%
7.) Employment Homepage 473,204 +5.54%
8.) Parktakes Online 467,287 +127.94%
9.) Library Renewals 400,060 +3.19%
10.) Library Branches 399,504 -1.43%
11.) Library Account Services 340,328 +112.22%
12.) AIMS Resume Builder 334,336 +70.36%
13.) Real Estate Taxes 330,833 +16.72%
14.) DTA Car Tax E-pay Homepage 306,295 +8.07%
15.) DTA Car Tax E-pay Step 1 303,406 +9.26%
16.) DTA Car Tax E-pay Step 2 302,229 +8.92%
17.) General District Court 298,715 +8.09%
18.) DTA Car Tax E-pay Step 3 277,031 +9.43%
19.) Departments & Agencies 274,794 -6.48%
20.) AIMS Application Status 266,046 +66.01%
21.) AIMS Resume Builder 263,644 +107.69%
22.) Fairfax Connector Routes 244,800 -4.84%
23.) Fairfax Connector Homepage 230,753 -11.43%
24.) DTA Car Tax E-pay Info 230,013 +28.87%
25.) DTA Car Tax Pay Options1 230,638 n/a (new page)
26.) DTA Car Tax Homepage 220,638 +9.52%
27.) Circuit Court 200,490 +18.35%
28.) FIDO Online2 199,596 n/a (new page)
29.) Park Authority Homepage 192,947 -6.71%
30.) AIMS Homepage 191,067 -31.15%
1
DTA and OPA created a new
car tax payment options page in 31.) DTA Car Tax Credit Card Pay 189,980 -6.56%
September; in total, the old and 32.) Library Online Databases 188,446 +20.36%
new pages combined for 63,538
more visits in 2012 than in 2011. 33.) Police Department Homepage 185,129 -7.82%
34.) Parktakes Online 161,490 +575.58%
2
This new FIDO Online page
was live for only part of 2011, so 35.) DTA Car Tax E-check Pay 157,985 +21.43%
a comparison cannot be shown. 36.) DTA Car Tax Pay Options1 150,485 -52.62%
37.) County Online Services 141,516 +17.36%
38.) SACC 139,218 +27.58%
39.) Fairfax Connector Routes South 133,260 -0.11%
8 40.) Fairfax Connector Routes North 132,633 -2.88%

9. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
Heat maps provide a unique view of specific pages regardless of where the links reside in the web content manage-
ment system (which is how Urchin mesaures stats shown on the preceeding pages). The following heat maps show
clicks on a few key pages and the frequency of clicks during the indicated sample timeframe.
County Homepage
April 30-May 3
9

10. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
County Homepage
Dec. 13-31
10

11. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
Where Are County Homepage
Dec. 13-31
Visitors Going
Page Clicks Percent
From 1.) Jobs 7,065 11.5%
Homepage? 2.) Real Estate Assessments 4,991 8.1%
3.) Search 4,509 7.3%
4.) Library Catalog & Account 3,487 5.7%
5.) Departments and Agencies 3,029 4.9%
6.) Taxes & Revenue 2,116 3.4%
7.) Jobs 2,023 3.3%
8.) Tax Payments 1,859 3.0%
9.) Online Services 1,612 2.6%
10.) Libraries 1,451 2.4%
11.) Building Permits 1,333 2.1%
12.) Parks and Recreation 1,216 2.0%
13.) Animals 1,206 2.0%
14.) Courts 1,122 1.7%
15.) Recycling & Trash 1,042 1.7%
16.) Living Here 1,014 1.6%
17.) Park Class Registration 986 1.6%
18.) Land Use & Development 918 1.5%
19.) Search 882 1.4%
20.) Contact Fairfax County 859 1.4%
21.) Housing 773 1.3%
22.) Health & Human Services 717 1.2%
23.) Police 696 1.0%
24.) Home 625 1.0%
25.) Board of Supervisors 619 1.0%
26.) Public Safety 595 1.0%
75.7% of clicks go to only 26 links
(out of 114 links on the homepage)
11

12. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
Our homepage visitor patterns remain remarkably consistent. This comparison illustrates that our customers are
seeking the same information when they connect with their government through the county’s homepage.
County Homepage
April 30-May 3, 2012 Oct. 11-18, 2011
50,000 Visits 50,000 Visits
12

13. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
One of the website’s most important pages is to pay car taxes. DTA and OPA launched a new page in early fall.
What did people click?
Pay Car Taxes
Oct. 2-5
83% of users chose 2 links
13

14. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
In April 2012, a newly branded customer service platform was unveiled -- 703-FAIRFAX. Residents can call, email or tweet this central-
ized service rather than sort through 800 entires in the online contact directory (though that’s still an option).
703-FAIRFAX
Sept. 18-Oct. 22
23% of users chose 2 DTA links
Email traffic to OPA has doubled
since the launch
14

15. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
The Complaints and Concerns page serves as a centralized landing page for the public to access all agency complaint forms.
Complaints
April 9- Aug. 2
15

16. HEAT MAPS AND CLICKS
Online Services has long been a way to see all services online, but as the heat map shows, only a few select services are accessed through
this page (the services may be accessed in other ways such as search or navigating to an agency page.
Online Services
May 8-June 12
16

17. SATISFACTION SURVEYS
Each county web page features a satisfaction survey link at the bottom for people to share their experiences.
The scale is 1-7, with 1 being very dissatisfied, 4 being satisfied and 7 being very satisfied.
2012
Overall Web Site Search Recent Visit Find Information
Satisfaction Organization Engine Satisfaction Information? Helpful?
3.32 3.53 3.43 3.16 Yes=40% Yes=46%
No=37% No=42%
Partially=20% Don’t Know=12%
Browsing=3%
2011
Overall Web Site Search Recent Visit Find Information
Satisfaction Organization Engine Satisfaction Information? Helpful?
4.00 4.28 4.12 3.60 Yes=48% Yes=54%
No=29% No=30%
Partially=18% Don’t Know=11%
Browsing=5%
Selected Comments
• “The county website is very “busy.” It seems as though information is just dumped on the site, and it’s up to the visitor to sort thru
it. I have also looked, in the past, for info on police matters and services. The information was not well laid out. Perhaps it would
help if the site were designed with the customer in mind . . .”
• “The Parktakes site is really just horrible. The user interface is among the worst I’ve used. The search engine does not work properly
or uses an algorithm that is opaque to the user. this is 2012, and there is no excuse for such poor user interface design and such
terrible search capability. I strongly recommend you invest in improving the user experience, or you will lose many customers. You
certainly lost me for this registration period, as I was unable to sign up for any class.”
• “Tried to submit financial crimes report using your system and failed completely.”
• “I went to the site to file an on line financial crime report. There is no direct link for this on the web page address I was given.
When I did finally get there the on-line report form continually rejected my attempts to enter personal information with an er-
ror screen. I suspect you put on-line crime reporting together so same labor costs but since the system doesn’t actually work you
wasted tax money and my time!”
• “Simplify the process and make the website more reliable so that citizens do not become disenchanted with trying to file a report.
It is sad when I call the police department to make a report and am told that I have to visit a website and input my information
and wait for an officer or detective to call me back within a few days. IT IS EVEN MORE UPSETTING THAT I AM TOLD
THAT THE WEBSITE I AM TOLD TO VISIT IS UNRELIABLE.”
• “Haven’t received tax bill, due date is coming up, and the website offers no way to pay the bill unless you have a “stub number”
from the bill. Website does not provide any means to look up the bill or get the “stub number”. Website provides no practical
means to automatically pay bills from a linked account; the only bill payment method provided requires that you have the tax bill/
amount so you can set up a one-time payment (vs. automatically pay whatever the amount is, which varies from year to year) from
a linked account.”
• “No dates showing how old the data and or the page is; to evaluate how relevant or current the data is. Most all of the
pages look outdated, pages look to have not been updated in years. Many have web links which no longer work.” 17

18. SEARCH ON FAIRFAXCOUNTY.GOV
Our public increasingly depends on search to find county information and services. Website metrics on preceeding
pages show more than 8 million visits (out of 16 million) came from public search engines.
The numbers below show the actual searches on fairfaxcounty.gov -- and a dramatic increase. The satisfaction
survey on the previous page shows a drop in our public’s experience with county search.
Total Number 2012 2,929,381
+174.9%
of Searches 2011 1,065,485
>>Top Search Keywords<<
1.) tax 4.) park 7.) library 10.) classes
2.) property 5.) records 8.) license 11.) form
3.) permit 6.) court 9.) services 12.) jobs
>>Top Search Queries<<
1.) jobs 21.) renew books online 41.) circuit court
2.) library 22.) employment opportunities 42.) divorce records
3.) sacc 23.) property search 43.) vehicle registration
4.) personal property tax 24.) child care 44.) animal shelter
5.) aims 25.) zoning ordinance 45.) marriage
6.) employment 26.) business license 46.) summer camps
7.) parktakes 27.) volunteer 47.) electric sunday
8.) property tax 28.) permit application 48.) holidays 2012
9.) building permits 29.) tax bill 49.) real estate assessment
10.) parks 30.) zoning 50.) volunteer opportunities
11.) forms 31.) summer camp 51.) careers
12.) focus 32.) building permit 52.) divorce
13.) land records 33.) personal property 53.) real estate tax bill
14.) permits 34.) pay traffic ticket 54.) circuit court records
15.) job openings 35.) dog license 55.) public records
16.) library fairfax county 36.) traffic ticket 56.) case information
17.) real estate tax 37.) real estate 57.) aims login
18.) marriage license 38.) property owners 58.) health department
19.) fido 39.) name change 59.) summer reading program
20.) car tax 40.) police 60.) parktakes online
Keywords vs. Queries: Keywords account for all instances of one word while queries isolate specific search terms.
18 For example “tax” vs. “property tax.”

19. Mobile
The rapid growth and adoption of smartphones and tablets is radically changing how the public interacts with and expects service deliv-
ery. The county has made initial steps into mobile, including a mobile homepage at m.fairfaxcounty.gov, iPhone and Android apps, and
optimized ways for people to conduct business from a phone such as paying car taxes.
How Many
Unique Visitors 81,641
People Visited Visits 153,431
Mobile Web? Page Views 416,636
Oct. 28 -- Hurricane Sandy -- when our mobile website
When Was experienced more than 7,100 visits:
the Most
Traffic?
Page Visits
What Pages 1.) Mobile Homepage 117,747
Were Visited 2.) Emergency Homepage 14,730
the Most? 3.) Departments & Agencies 14,714
4.) Online Services 9,757
5.) Living Here 9,031
6.) NewsWire Homepage 8,070
7.) All NewsWire Headlines 7,504
8.) Library 5,102
9.) Employment 4,757
10.) Mobile Guide 3,787
11.) Calendar 3,707
12.) Our Government 3,220
13.) News & Events Homepage 2,936
14.) Visiting 2,733
15.) Fairfax Connector Homepage 2,716
16.) DTA Tax Homepage 2,661
17.) Maps, Facts & Stats 2,171
18.) Doing Business 2,152 19

20. SOCIAL MEDIA
The state of Fairfax County social media is very healthy. We see growth on all platforms as our residents
become more engaged with their government. In the nearly five years of social media use, we have never
experienced a month with no growth on existing platforms. These tools are integral to amplify key messages
and services to residents, but more importantly, as ways to talk with the public directly so they can serve as
information ambassadors within the community.
2012 2011 +/- (2011)
Facebook Fans* 26,902 18,274 +47.2%
Twitter Followers * 19,881 9,217 +115.7%
YouTube Views 106,208 93,457 +13.6%
Flickr Views 446,275 388,426 +14.9%
* all county accounts
Main County Facebook Page Fans: October 2008-December 2012
@fairfaxcounty Twitter Followers: January 2009-December 2012
20

21. FACEBOOK
Two primary Facebook metrics to focus on are dailty total reach and number of Page fans/likes.
Daily total reach means the number of times county content has appeared in a Facebook user’s newsfeed.
Since Facebook unveiled a more robust metrics system in July 2011, we do not have calendar year comparisons
of data, but as shown below, there was been a marked increase in Facebook daily total reach in the last six
months of 2012.
Page CY2012 FY2011
Daily Total County Government 1,051,940 739,728
Reach Police 497,292 342,221
Park Authority 405,994 286,537
Library 319,306 199,438
Fire and Rescue1 112,303 n/a
Health Department 78,753 50,347
Fairfax Connector 70,461 347,237
Sheriff 41,227 34,918
Environment 28,808 27,467
AAA Volunteer Solutions 20,266 24,051
Office for Children 17,823 15,889
Disabilities 14,552 10,462
Consumer Affairs 9,802 10,188
TOTAL** 2,556,404 2,088,753
1
Fire and Rescue Page started Sept. 20
Page December 2012 January 2012
Page Fans/ County Government 9,602 7,200
Likes Police 5,189 3,738
Park Authority 2,636 1,477
Library 3,158 2,334
Fire and Rescue 1,621 n/a
Health Department 409 192
Fairfax Connector 1,668 1,355
Sheriff 850 628
Environment 330 238
AAA Volunteer Solutions 474 378
Office for Children 562 464
Disabilities 247 174
Consumer Affairs 156 96
TOTAL 26,902 18,274
21

22. FACEBOOK SATISFACTION SURVEY
A Facebook satisfaction survey was conducted toward the end of 2012 for the county’s main Facebook page to
gauge performance and gain insight from the public. Below are some of the key results and findings:
81% of respondents are extremely or moderately satisfied with
How the county’s use of Facebook.
Satisfied?
Satisfied 98% of respondents expressed satisfaction with our use of
Facebook during emergencies.
During
Emergencies?
22

23. FACEBOOK SATISFACTION SURVEY
83% of respondents have liked, commented or shared county
Interacted Facebook content in the last year.
with Page?
Have You 82% of respondents believe they have learned more about Fairfax
County Government through our use of Facebook.
Learned About
the County?
Selected Comments
• “It’s a great way for me to keep up to date with my local government! ”
• “Updates that I would not normally read since I only check the website when I’m looking for something specific.”
• “I think this is an easy way for many people to learn more about the services that Fairfax County has available.”
• “Relevant updates, keeps me thinking local, especially appreciate timely updates on major construction/traffic.”
• “Information is thorough, but written in a good, concise manner. Info is timely and important. Not a bunch of stuff to fill space.”
• “I like to feeling like I’m getting insider knowledge and finding out information about things the county provides, that I would
not typically be aware of. ”
• “I work in the social media field and I think your page is actually quite well run in terms of the content, use of images and
responsiveness. I would just recommend that you do more to get the word out that you have it!” 23

24. TWITTER
Our fastest growing social media platform is Twitter. The number of followers on county Twitter accounts has
increased significantly since 2009. The numbers below represent the total followers across all official accounts
on/about Dec. 31 of each year.
Unfortunately, Twitter does not provide more robust metrics like Facebook at this time.
2012 19,881
Total Number 2011
+10,664
9,217 +5,341
of Followers 2010 3,876
+1,874
2009 2,002
Hurricane Sandy
One of our most significant uses of Twitter was during Hurricane Sandy. The numbers below from
Oct. 26-31 tell a story of how content published to the main county Twitter account can go viral
and be shared by many people:
• 1,494: retweets of
county updates
• 1,127: new followers
• 997: instances of the
#ffxstorm hashtag
use
As Hurricane Sandy approached we openly advocated for people to
use the hashtag #ffxstorm so we could see localized information. Other
hashtags such as #sandy and #VAsandy were simply too wide and included
too much noise for us to sort through to find Fairfax information. The use
of this hashtag was adopted by many and we plan to continue advocating
for a more specific hashtag depending upon the incident (as one may have
already bubbled up from the community).
24

25. TWITTER SATISFACTION SURVEY
A Twitter satisfaction survey was conducted toward the end of 2012 for the county’s main Twitter account
@fairfaxcounty. Below are some of the key results and findings:
74% of respondents are extremely or moderately satisfied with
How the county’s use of Twitter.
Satisfied?
79% of respondents view tweets many times a day.
How Often
Do You Use?
25

26. TWITTER SATISFACTION SURVEY
How Do 75% of respondents view county tweets on mobile or tablet devices.
You View
Tweets?
Have You 79% of respondents believe they have learned more about Fairfax
County Government through our use of Twitter.
Learned About
the County?
Selected Comments
• “They respond to questions from followers and keep me informed of what is happening in my area.”
• “Hurricane coverage and election coverage was excellent.”
• “It provides a human touch to a rather large organization.”
• “Recommend you monitor media more closely and comment on veracity of their statements about county business.
Sometimes they scoop you and sometimes they report things not true.”
• “More about what to do and who to contact for what, what roads are closed, for when we have a storm, earthquake,
tornado, dinosaur attack, etc. i don’t use TV news, most news from Twitter.”
• “Post to Twitter more often please.”
26 • “Make it more reliable and consistent on reporting information of county-wide interest.”

27. YOUTUBE
The county’s YouTube channel is an
important social media platform for
sharing information.
In 2012, YouTube videos were
watched 14% more than in 2011:
2011 2012
Going forward, YouTube’s new
metric of “estimated minutes
watched” (seen in graphic to the
left) will serve as an even better
measure about our social video
content. This metric was introduced
Sept. 1, 2012.
The “discovery” data above shows the growing reach of our YouTube content on mobile devices,
which can be viewed on all platforms (Apple or Android) unlike some of our other legacy video
platforms. We need to remain vigilant that video content can be viewed on all major popular devices
our residents use today.
27

28. YOUTUBE
How long do people watch our
social video content? On average
from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, county
YouTube videos were viewed for 1
minute and 42 seconds.
Looking further at two of the top 10
videos below, we begin to see how
crucial it is for social video content
to be short, compelling, and with
minimal delays or distractions:
28

29. EMERGENCY BLOG
The emergency blog, which started in August 2011, has been an integral part of the county’s response to
emergencies. From hurricanes to derecho to flooding threats, the blog becomes a focal point during height-
ened activity.
547,045 views of the emergency blog in 2012, with 384,651
How Many views alone in October because of Hurricane Sandy.
Views?
What Were 54% of all views were on the blog home page. The last 10 posts
can be viewed on the home page, so this skews the ability to know
the Top Posts the true interests in each post.
& Pages?
Where Did 20% of referral traffic (not all 547,000+) found the blog from the
county website. The other 80% came from a variety of sources,
Visitors Come indicative of the fragmented communications world we live in.
From?
29

30. EMERGENCY BLOG
Hurricane Sandy proved again why the emergency blog has been such an important digital platform to use
and share information during incidents.
By The Numbers
• 78,365: from fairfaxcounty.gov
• 384,651: views • 35,936: from Facebook
• 16,042: from fcps.edu
• 11,385: from Google.com search
• 2,260: email subscribers • 6,870: from Twitter
• 5,974: from WTOP.com
• 603: public comments
Compared to Hurricane Irene
Sandy Irene
Views 384,651 50,668 A new Emergency Web Banner was activated on every
county webpage to help drive traffic to the emergency blog.
Comments 603 77
Subscribers 2,260 75
To show the interconnectedness
of our digital tools, this blog
post was shared more than 2,000
times on Facebook.
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