I was invited by Greg Valou (Communications, Metro Vancouver) to speak to their social media group about what elements should they consider when designing a social media strategy and why they should do it. I particularly emphasized the following elements: (a) Going multi-platform (b) Choosing a particular pilot project and go with it (c) Use it as a form of citizen engagement (d) Make use of all the tools they have in-house.

1. A Primer on Social
Media
for
Metro Vancouver
Image source: http://digiredo.files.wordpress.com/
Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega
http://www.raulpacheco.org
(research)
http://hummingbird604.com
(personal/social media)

2. The human nature
and the need to relate
At the intersection of social media, social
change, social marketing and public policy
issues, you will find 3 elements:
– Relationships
– Information
– Behaviour
These elements are intrinsic to humans and our
need to relate to each other... through
NETWORKS

3. Basic premises of my talk
• We live in a networked society.
– No longer isolated.
• Everyone is connected.
– No longer 9am to 5pm.
• Things happen online 24/7
– No longer purely private
• The boundary between public and private life has blurred.
• Social media is all about networking.
– So if we are going to use the network, let’s use it the
right way

4. Social network of the New Testament 
http://www.esv.org/blog/2007/01/mapping-nt-social-networks/

5. So, what is this thing you call...
Social media?
• It is social
– Allows you/enables you to create
multi-directional relationships.
• It is media
– Content generated is distributed via
online (electronic) methods
Image at http://www.47project.com/2009/03/11/social-media-experts-you-have-lots-to-learn-grasshopper/

6. Credit and source: http://www.fredcavazza.net/2008/06/09/social-media-landscape/

7. A few social media tools
• Video-sharing sites • Podcasts (audio)
– YouTube
– Vimeo
– Viddler • Photo-sharing
• Content Management – Flickr
Systems
– Blogger • Micro-blogs
– WordPress
– Twitter
– TypePad
– Identi.ca
• Wikis – Laconi.ca
– PBWiki

8. Social media enables dialogue...
• Web 1.0 • Web 2.0
– Unilateral – Multidirectional
• (static webpages) • (dynamic websites)
– Traditional media – New media
• (I say, you listen) • (I say, you say, we all say)
– Content generation from – Crowd-sourced content
the website creator • (Bottom-up)
• (Top-down)

9. Social media is an enabling agent
• Finding information
• Learning from other’s stories
• Building trust and strengthening relationships
• Sharing your story (storytelling)

10. Why the properties of
information flow in social
networks matter
Or, in other words, I’m going to go a
little bit academic on you, if you don’t
mind 

11. The triangle of distrust
Differences in Government Differences in
perception of strategic
objectives and objectives and
accomplishment goals
Civil society Business
Differences in
values and
strategic
perceptions
Pacheco-Vega (2004, 2005, 2009)

12. Four properties of information flow in
social networking sites
• Reciprocity
– Information flows bi-directionally and reciprocally. No reasonable
human interaction is uni-directional all the time.
• Durability
– Information that you put on the web, stays on the web. For a very, very
long time.
• Traceability (and accountability)
– Information that you put on the web, can be traced back.
• Scalability
– Once information flows publicly, you can’t stop its flow to other nodes.
It’s out in the open. And one wrong move can change how it’s
reproduced and perceived.
Partially and initially based on boyd (2009), adding my own thoughts

13. Putting the public back in public policy
• The politics and the policy
• Politics
– Polis/politikos (state/city) – the state of affairs in cities/states.
– Politics has been very misconstrued and its public image is deteriorated.
• Policy
– Public policy is the set of actions, decision-making processes and analysis of
public decisions. Governments execute public policies primarily to serve their
citizens.
– Putting the public back in public policy means enabling citizens to participate
in the making of the decisions that will affect them in the end.
– Social networking sites may be very powerful in engaging the public, but we
need to take into account the properties of information flows in networking
sites.

14. The 4xN Grid Method to analyze,
design and implement social media
campaigns

15. Target audience & demographics
Issue selection & galvanization mechanism & deployment & stabilizatio
Platform selection Life-cycle
DeSmogBlog Mainstream media & PR folks warming
Global Blogs Short-medium term
Earth Hour Canada General public Energy conservation Twitter and Facebook Short-term
Vote for Environment.ca
Average Canadian voters (>18 yrs old)
Environment as an outcome of political decisions FacebookVery short term
Twitter/blog &
Save the Great Bear Forest
Average Canadian folk
Biodiversity conservation
Flickr/Facebook/Twitter Medium term
General public, mental health practitioners
Mental Health Camp Mental illness, stigmaTwitter/blog –Facebook Long term
Source: Pacheco-Vega (2009)

16. In a nutshell
• Don’t be afraid of social media! 
• Test the tools, find what suits you.
• Dial up the privacy as much as you need.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions – there is a
whole community out there 

17. Recommended reading/viewing
• The Wealth of • Social Media in Plain
Networks: How Social English (Common Craft,
Production Transforms Lee Lefever)
Markets and Freedom
– (Yochai Benkler @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOC
Harvard)
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/wealth_of_networks/Main_Page
• Actually, ANYTHING “In Plain
English” is fantastic

18. Thanks for listening!
• Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD
– How to contact me:
• Via email
– hummingbird604@gmail.com for social media matters
– raul.pachecovega@gmail.com for my enviro research
• Via contact form on my blogs
– http://hummingbird604.com social medial/personal
– http://www.raulpacheco.org research
• Via Twitter
– http://www.twitter.com/hummingbird604 social media
– http://www.twitter.com/raulpacheco research