Best Practices in Public Sector Social Media

Editor's Notes

1. This is an approximately thirty minute version of a presentation I gave to the Statewide Traffic Safety Conference in San Antonio, Texas on June 5, 2012. Source URLs and related information are in the speaker's notes for each slide. Steven Polunskypolunsky@gmail.comAustin, Texas
2. Have you heard about the newest scary movie, Lost in Val Sinestra? Here is a sneak peak at the trailer. HTTP://WWW.LOST-IN-VAL-SINESTRA.COM/017324FB032A309427The Internet is more interactive than ever. This video is generated on the fly at the host website and cleverly includes photos and names uploaded by the user, or linked to a Facebook account and adds maps and other items. Events in the timeline of Val Sinestra::39 peoples' names appear on the guest register1:00 name on Happy Birthday sign1:09 Newspaper with pictures of missing persons1:25 picture on cell phone and name spoken aloud as part of phone message1:41 two pictures in a locket1:45 photo under bed1:50 two names written in steam on mirror2:23 photo appears from dot matrix printer2:29 photographer's gallery2:33 movie producer is my best friend2:58 names appear in scrabble game3:20 endHere are some other similar sites:Bacardi - Unwrap the Night - requires Facebook - http://www.unwrapthenight.com/AgeGate/IndexDennis Christiansen Runs for President - http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=Efoojt&altl=DisjtujbotfoSwisscom - Lost in Val Sinestra main page - http://www1.lost-in-val-sinestra.com/The Dexter Hit List - http://www.thedexterhitlist.com/intro.phpPlayboy Bunnies http://www.wonderlandmovies.de/play/?c=1&s=Aje9kPzqX2St. Bonaventure University version http://www.becomingextraordinary.net/
3. Message and Delivery Matter.You have a message to deliver. You want to give people information, and you want them to be receptive to it. You are asking people to take action - buckle their seat belts, use a child safety seat correctly, slow down and pay attention in a school zone, drive sober. You want to do it without sounding like your Mom - wash your hands, cover your mouth, go home if you're sick, or you'll catch the Avian Flu.You know this will work better if you are talking with someone, not at them. That's what interactivity is about, and that's what social media is about.Everyone's going digitized and mobile.At DIR Power to Purchase 2012, Gartner's Ty Harmon told state agencies "tomorrow's technologies digitize everything."The New York Times’ daily digital subscribers exceed its daily print subscribers. (On average, digital circulation now accounts for 14.2 percent of newspapers’ total circulation mix, up from 8.66 percent in March 2011. Digital circulation may be tablet or smartphone apps, PDF replicas, metered or restricted-access websites, or e-reader editions. May 1, 2012 http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/172294/abc-newspaper-circulation-rose-in-last-six-months-5-on-sundays/ )
4. WHY SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR AUDIENCEWhat is social media? Broadly, according to SocialBrite.org, social media refers to any online technology that lets people publish, converse and share content online. Another definition might be the use of technology to identify and enable communities of interest. The key is interactivity. 99 other terms defined, http://www.socialbrite.org/sharing-center/glossary/FHWA's definition: "Social Media and Web 2.0 are umbrella terms used to define the various activities integrating Web technology, social interaction, and user-generated content. Examples of Social MedialWeb 2.0 technologies include, but are not limited to, blogs, wikis, podcasts, social network sites, and Internet-based services that emphasize collaboration and sharing (such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube). The DOT Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO) maintains a Social MedialWeb 2.0 technologies catalog, listing all DOT approved technologies." FHWA Social Media/Web 2.0 Management Order, March 16, 2011, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/orders/137014.htmTexas DIR's definition is in the context of  Social Media Tool: A software system or service provided via the Internet used to communicate and share information between people, especially affinity groups of people such as customers or constituents, where customers, constituents, or the general public are the primary creators of the information content.  Examples include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and GetSatisfaction. (http://www2.dir.texas.gov/management/socialMedia/Pages/guidelines.aspx)A new study from Harvard says the reason that Facebook, Twitter and other social media are so popular and addictive is that they pleasantly stimulate the same part of the brain as when people eat food, get money or have sex. The researchers found that people simply like to talk about themselves and social media outlets provide a very effective way to do that. (Facebook, Twitter, social media are 'brain candy,' Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal,Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 6:49am PDT - Last Modified: Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 11:36am PDT  http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/socialmadness/2012/05/facebook-twitter-social-media-are.htmlWho's using it Federal agencies (GSA link is in progress as of May 2012, monitor http://blog.howto.gov/ )FHWA says "It’s not whether or not the public, companies, Government agencies, and organizations will embrace Social Media — it’s already here." http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/teams/environment/feb2012.cfmFEMA has a good list and explanation of each site's use http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=49302 Guess what the most popular government facebook page is? According to Information Week on 2/27/12 http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/government/enterprise-apps/232601128?pgno=4, The U.S. Marine Corps has the most popular government Facebook page--by far. With more than 1.85 million "likes," the page has been liked almost 700,000 more times than its closest competitor, the Army.Why? Primary age range for USMC recruits is any where from as low as 16 to in the upper 20s.  (That's gamer-ville right there.) They emphasize the XBox as an outlet just like your laptop or cell phone. They put one page advertisements in almost EVERY major gaming mag, have banners on their websites, and show up at industry shows, bring along their cool gear and attitudes and it pays off big.  (Especially with First Person Shooters making up a large piece of the gaming community, the audience is perfect for what they are looking for.) Now try the most popular federal Twitter site. Same source says it's NASA. The agency's Twitter feed has more than 1.87 million followers. Much of that has to do with the content, which includes very regular updates about NASA programs, regular replies to fellow Twitter members, cross-references to other Twitter feeds, and links to photos.Access updated federal stats here: http://www.govloop.com/page/government-social-media-leaderThe Judicial BranchTtheNational Center for State Courts has good material for special considerations like juries' usage http://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Media-Relations/Social-Media-and-the-Courts/Resource-Guide.aspx The Legislative Branch State legislatures or legislative chambers in at least 18 states have created websites optimized for mobile devices. In addition, the Alaska Legislature, the New York Senate, the North Carolina General Assembly and the Puerto Rico Senate have developed downloadable public mobile apps for iPhones, iPads or Android devices. (http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/telecom/legislative-mobile-apps-and-websites.aspx). Special DistrictsThe Special District Association of Colorado has put together an excellent guide, http://www.sdaco.org/sites/default/files/sda_social_media_presentation_without_video.pdfCountiesThe National Association of Counties is currently compiling information and lists at http://www.naco.org/newsroom/latest/Pages/Members%27MediaTools.aspx and suggests "The best way to get started is to form a policy and guidelines writing committee which should include representatives of several county departments. In larger counties, the committee could include officials from county manager’s office, public affairs, public works, public safety, information technology, human resources and the county attorney’s office.  In smaller counties, one or two board members, the county attorney, county department heads with public communications responsibilities and the public information office, if the county has one, should be included.“CitiesA University of Illinois at Chicago study found that many U.S. cities are using social media. It said that among the 75 largest cities, 87 percent used Twitter in 2011, up from 25 percent in 2009. Facebook use increased during that period as well, with 87 percent of large cities using that social media tool in 2011, compared with 13 percent two years earlier. (http://americancityandcounty.com/citizen-engagement/naperville-tops-list-illinois-cities-using-social-media)Law EnforcementCleveland police used it during an Amber Alert in April and received a tip within a few hours that led to the children's rescue. In Pennsylvania, a police department made three arrests in one week off leads generated by social media. Recently, one of Denton's most-wanted misdemeanor fugitives saw his mug shot on the Police Department's Facebook page and turned himself in, hoping to keep his family and friends from finding out. (DFW area law enforcement agencies like social networking, Posted Saturday, May. 19, 2012, http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/19/3972529/dfw-area-law-enforcement-agencies.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy)If they don't someone else will. Few outsiders are more attuned to the social media activity of North Texas police agencies than John Burgdorf, a 19-year-old college student from DalworthingtonGardens.In October 2010, while still a student at Pantego Christian Academy, Burgdorf founded the website Dallas/Fort Worth Police Scanner, a social network that reports fire and police activity to more than 20,000 subscribers on Twitter and Facebook. Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/19/3972529/dfw-area-law-enforcement-agencies.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpyNonprofitsThe American Red Cross has just released its excellent guide, Social Engagement Handbook 2.0 http://www.scribd.com/doc/92697012/Social-Engagement-Handbook-2-0
5. State agencies (http://www.texas.gov/en/Connect/Pages/social-media.aspx)At least 25 state DOTs use Twitter (March 2010 report), 15 use Facebook, 14 YouTube, 6 have blogs, 4 podcast, and one state, Rhode Island... is on MySpace. The Rhode Island DOT is a single, 21 year old male; its sign is Aquarius. They won an award from the Governors Highway Safety Association http://www.ghsa.org/html/resources/showcase/ri1.html. But, as of April 2012 it’s phasing it out. http://www.ri.gov/press/view/16219 http://www.myspace.com/ridotnews    http://www.gis.fhwa.dot.gov/documents/web20report/web20report.htmBenefits reported by state transportation agencies (Volpe Center report http://www.gis.fhwa.dot.gov/documents/web20report/web20report.htm):Increase venues to reach more people and new audiences. e.g. youth, non-transportation groupiesAllow more direct communication with the public. No gatekeepers on the Internet.Support new forms of public involvement. 24/7 and readily accessible and free.Provide in-depth information to audiences. MoDOT'sEPG wiki is a comprehensive reference document that combined information previously contained in six separate manuals. RIDOT'sIway podcasts each focused on providing detailed information to the public about a specific component of the Iway, the most complex and expensive highway project undertaken by RIDOT. The podcasts included maps, historical images, video, and still footage shot throughout project construction.Deliver customized information to a target audience. Geography, topic, eventsEnable agencies to develop a recognizable 'voice' in communicating with the public, increasing public recognition and perceived agency accessibility.Lead to creative solutions using a collaborative approach. Washington State WSDOT noted that receiving public comments on its November storm blog helped the agency better analyze its actions and performance. Increase efficiencies and streamline interagency communications. For example, a participant in a social media session at the 2010 TRB Annual Meeting provided an anecdote of an MPO staff member who used Twitter during a staff meeting. The individual tweeted a question about the status of a pending policy issue affecting the meeting agenda and received a response to the tweet within several minutes. The response included a link to the updated policy document, which had been posted online only the day before.Are flexible in the amount of time or resources needed to update them. Only one agency (NCDOT) reported hiring additional staff to manage 2.0 applications; all other state DOTs folded responsibilities for the tools into existing staff workloads. However, agencies generally found that it was important to focus some amount of sustained effort to keep the sites current and up-to-date; users do not want to read stale information.
6. KEEP IN MIND AS YOU WADE IN - IT’S SOCIAL BUT IT’S STILL A BUSINESS. TREAT IT THAT WAY.SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIESHave a written social media policy. The Center for Technology in Government at State University of New York in Albany identifies eight key elements of a government social media policy: Employee access, account management, acceptable use, employee conduct, content, security, legal issues, and citizen conduct. http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/guides/social_media_policy  Explain what you are doing and set expectations.  DIR's Jon Lee says you need to communicate certain things to the public, such as your policies on privacy, moderation, linking, third-party websites, intellectual property rights and ownership, and the Public Information Act.Federal agencies' how-to: http://www.howto.gov/social-media/using-social-mediaThe National Association of Counties cites Fairfax County, Virginia as an example. It covers three areas:  Official county social media sites maintained by county employees, Employee access at work to monitor social media, and  Employee participation at work or home for personal or business purposes   http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/opa/fairfax-county-social-media-policy.pdf DIR is working on one for Texas state agencies. Excellent example: the Teacher Retirement System, http://www.trs.state.tx.us/global.jsp?page_id=/global/social_mediaHere are 213 policies you can learn from http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php Law enforcement has special concerns. Attorneys have used social-media profiles to discredit officer testimony in court. A law enforcement officer visiting a Central Texas restaurant that features gently-clad waitresses took a picture of a waitress posing by his squad car holding a rifle. Once these get out, they’re gone.The International Association of Chiefs of Police has a Center for Social Media with research and analysis in this area http://www.iacpsocialmedia.org/Terms of ServiceLikewise, pay special attention to the terms of service of any 3rd party service you use. Some may have special provisions related to government.http://knowledgecenter.csg.org/drupal/content/social-media-terms-service-agreements-and-state-governmentSome terms of service may not be acceptable to your agency as they affect indemnification, jurisdiction, advertising, endorsement, and treatment of intellectual property. At the federal level, the General Services Administration has negotiated some favorable terms, but service providers have been less interested in doing the same for smaller jurisdictions. Vet your service provider like you would a vendor.We don't think of giving them the same scrutiny we do our vendors, but you might watch for pitfalls there. Does your jurisdiction have limitations on where your vendors invest or their subcontractors? 58% of Facebook viewers are female, but their board is all white males. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-02/no-women-on-facebook-board-shows-white-male-influence.htmlIntegrate it into your print and other media. According to Altimeter Research, 2/3 of the ads shown during the 2012 Super Bowl promote an online destination. 57% of Super Bowl 2012 ads include a website or microsite URL. 16% include social media such as Twitter account, hashtags, or Facebook. 11% included emerging media technology such as Shazam (a music finding application), text messages, mobile apps, and QR codes. http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2012/02/06/five-trends-how-brands-integrated-social-mobile-and-web-into-2012-super-bowl-advertisements/If you have multiple media/sites, try to brand across them - match URLs, hashtag....
7. BE AUDIENCE FRIENDLYUse what we know about the brainthrough the study of neuroscience, such as the reading of "Brainfluence" by Roger Dooley, "The Buying Brain" by AK Pradeep, the blog "Social Triggers" by Derek Halpern, or Paul Fenwick's work (see his YouTube video from OSCON2011: Paul Fenwick, "All Your Brains Suck - Known Bugs And Exploits In Wetware“).Pradeep's book tells us our senses are taking in 11 million bits of information per second, and the brain is actively preserving its resources. Make interactions quick, clear, and interesting. If you have a person's interest, you can then go for the long reads. That's why Twitter is so popular. 140 characters. That's why Google works - you want to search? Here it is. In the public sector, you see the Google simplicity at work on the front page of Utah.gov (except for the complex visual background), and in a more refined way on Texas Online. There is a lot more to this than we can go into today.Be mindful of the medium and the short attention span. An article should be read in under 2 minutes, <250 words, 5th grade reading level with limited words over 2 syllables (per Dan Zarella study of retweeted info), get to the point and stay on the point. 65 characters max for the headline.If you want people to read your content, you only need to get them to read the first few sentences. So, the trick is, make the beginning part of your article a shorter line length than the rest of your article. How do you limit the line length towards the beginning of your article? Use a half-width image below your headline…” @derekhalpern.Once you’ve got the hook in, you can tell stories. Stories teach us things, move us emotionally, and form the basis of the way we understand the world. Ken Burns says the best stories are where 1 plus 1 = 3, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. (5-minute video of Ken Burns on Storytelling: http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/05/the-art-of-storytelling.html) Be useful.Put up statistics, but more, share your dataEngineer your systems to make it easy to share data. Promoting open data-sharing can lead to innovative 2.0 applications. MassDOT has found that third party software developers can create innovative applications that will benefit both customers and the agency (http://www.gis.fhwa.dot.gov/documents/web20report/web20report.htm). TxDOT should be commended for putting the District and County Statistics on line, and look for other opportunities.  
8. Pictures. Do you know what a Snow Donut is? Back up - do you know what snow is? A snow donut is a rare, naturally occurring phenomenon that results when densely packed snow slides down an incline, rolling up into a 'pinwheel' or donut shape.A picture of a "snow donut"46 along a WSDOT road taken by a WSDOT employee was posted on Flickr on April 13, 2007.47  The picture and story became very popular with the public48 (viewed over 6800 times) and appeared on the front page of an international newspaper.49 The press that resulted from these postings allowed opportunities for WSDOT to showcase their employees' daily work. Local media continue to display WSDOT's Flickr photos on websites and use them for news stories if a photographer cannot come to the area. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/464413289  These pictures are geocoded and have information about the equipment used to take them, for the budding photographer.Tips on taking pictures of people at work - reflective vests are tricky. http://facesoftransportation.org/2012/05/07/tip-photographing-people-at-work/http://www.shutterbug.com/content/point-shoot-photographing-people-workTake pictures but remember your visually impaired audience and put alt-tags or other descriptive methods. Interactive Maps.  Advanced mapping techniques. MassDOT maintains a mashup map that allows users to post comments regarding neighborhood-specific transportation issues, such as overcrowded bus routes, broken stoplights, or potholes. Mashup users can place 'flags' to pinpoint the locations of their concerns on a Google map. MassDOT staff can then access the mashup to respond to comments. North Carolina DOT and Missouri DOT use mashup maps also.  MoDOT reported several benefits to using Google Maps in its mashup. The service is free with minimal up-front costs. The maps are user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Additionally, use of a mashup relieved internet traffic from MoDOT's server and enabled the agency to handle more traffic on its own website. http://www.gis.fhwa.dot.gov/documents/web20report/web20report.htm   Example of a MassDOTmashup map: www.massdot.state.ma.us/rmv/BranchInfo/BranchMap.aspxIf you want to do your own maps: http://datajournalismhandbook.org/1.0/en/
9. Graphics. Long the province of newspapers and TV, some graphics have not caught up with modern day visualization needs. Here is the old way.Why do freeways come to a stop? http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/?s=freeway
10. InfographicsThe new way is to make it screen-width and long so you have to keep scrolling. But if you provide no more information, it’s still not very useful. Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/05/the-science-behind-traffic-jams-infographic/
11. InfographicsThe latest thing is “infographics.” Infographics take data and chart, map, or otherwise make them meaningful. It's not just numbers and clipart, or a poster. A bad example: Anatomy of a DUI (600 pixels wide, 3001 deep) is good info, poorly presented. The dial would make a good visual, but the data is unrelated to the dial graphic.
12. A good exampleIt’s hard to beat regular old good graphics if done right. This one was created by BoostLabs of Washington DC, using public info from data.gov. The top graph has three lines. From the top: US population, traffic fatalities, fatalities per 100million residents. The half circle below pulls out 2009 data to show driver fatalities, occupant fatalities, total fatalitiesThe bottom bars are types of vehicles involved in crashes. On the right, by state, are dollars spent per person and fatalities per 100m miles traveled, with the solid vertical lines being the national average. http://www.boostlabs.com/portfolio-item/national-highway-traffic-safety-administration-fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars/ accessed May 29, 2012. Visual.ly has 487 other transportation graphics, or you can create your own. See Edward Tufte for how to visualize data.More examples of good infographics: http://www.good.is/infographicsMore examples of bad infographics: http://notaninfographic.tumblr.com/A problem with infographics is that they don’t print cleanly. Another is that it is hard to extract a discrete piece of one for use elsewhere without doing some graphics editing. Online editors  for making infographics: http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/easel-ly-launches-browser-tool-and-template-for-quick-easy-beautiful-infographics_b13117Easel.ly  seems more apt in combining infographic-like images on a canvas, than to link real numerical data to a graphical form.Infogr.am offers a collection of infographic themes as well as different interactive chart types (e.g. bar graph, line chart, pie chart, matrix chart, and so on). Note that next to the basic visual style, they also offer some more 'humorist' approaches (such mapping the tongue of a frog as a horizontal bar).Venngage.com 's visual elements are displayed as pure HTML elements, which should positively influence SEO stats, page ranks and back links. As with infogr.am, venngage is able to directly link custom data values to data-driven graphs, but offers more visualization techniques that go beyond the traditional pie chart, line graph and bar chart, and includes sophisticated techniques such as treemaps, bubble charts, word clouds, and the like.More info on infographics: http://infosthetics.com/If you make one, expect it to be forwarded, so put your brand on it - logo, creator, date.http://www.bigoakinc.com/blog/the-power-of-infographics-for-link-building/
13. BE CREATIVE The brain loves new, unusual, humorous, engaging. Remember the Zombie Apocalypse? In May 2011, the Centers for Disease Control bought a stock photo and made it the cornerstone of a post on the Centers for Disease Control's Public Health Matters blog that provided tongue-in-cheek tips on what citizens should do in the face of a zombie apocalypse. They used the TV show "Walking Dead" as a teachable moment, dissecting episodes to show how people could have better prepared. It's a prime example of how a bit of creative thinking can drive conversation and traffic. The zombie apocalypse post resulted in 900 comments, ten times the blog's normal traffic, and was even covered by major national news outlets. http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/Use memesA meme is a concept, idea, or image that travels by word of mouth or Internet and becomes part of the culture. Memes engage both the pleasure and thinking centers of the brain.
14. USE MEMESSee if you can figure out what this cat is doing. (YMCA cat). You’re singing it now, aren’t you? (credit is on the picture)ORFor example, I'll take Fascinating Facts for 10, Alex. (Jeopardy question image)OR
15. Who is the Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce?More examples: http://www.quickmeme.com/   Everything Generator: http://www.says-it.com/
16. Start your own meme. What if you took the Orbit Gum lady, substitute Carol Rawson's face, add the tag line "Drive Safely, No Matter What." It would look like this. Maybe not. I’m just going to leave that up there a while.Also in the creative category - Easter eggs. There are several ways to include Easter eggs in your application or website. One of the most common is the Konami Code. The Konami Code appeared in the 1985 arcade game Gradius and got you 30 lives in the game Contra. [Who here knows the Konami code?] It is entered by pressing certain buttons in a certain order: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start. At PaulIrish.com it gets you glittery unicorns and ponies. That'll get people talking.PUZZLES AND GAMESSid Meier, creator of the Civilization series, once said that a game is “a series of interesting choices.” http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/26/gamification-ux-users-win-lose/People are drawn to games, almost instinctively, and that can be put to good public sector use. Whether they know it’s a game or not.
17. People are drawn to gamesOriginally introduced in the Amsterdam International Airport, the urinal fly is a great example of a usable yet fun product. Its intent is to keep the bathroom floor clean; when you aim for the fly, you’re less likely to spill. The manufacturer claims an 80% reduction in "spillage." uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/26/gamification-ux-users-win-lose/Volkswagen's thefuntheory.com demonstrates several examples of gaming for behavior change in real life. In Speed Camera Lottery, a picture is taken of each vehicle passing a certain point. Speeders get fined. Law-abiders get entered in a lottery for a share of that pot. Over 3 days, 24,857 cars passed the camera. Average speed dropped from 32 km/h to 25 km/h (20 mph to 15.5 mph).The City of Geneva, Illinois needed help researching land ownership and easement records and created a Viking-themed Land Records Adventure. They digitized the records. You sign up online, pick your subdivision, review the records and put details in a spreadsheet. Rewards are per completed section: 1 = certificate, 5 = City of Geneva pen, 10 = coffee mug, 50 is a t-shirt, and for 100 completions they send you a street sign with your name on it.People like games. The game Angry Birds launched in December 2009, includes Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Space, almost all of which are available on iOS, Android, Chrome, Blackberry, PSP, PC, the Mac App Store and many, many other platforms, has been downloaded over 1 billion times.  http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/9/3009640/angry-birds-downloaded-over-one-billion-timesTxDOT has a couple or rudimentary freestanding games that were grant funded through the state bar at http://www.texaslre.org/games.htmlRewards - in government you might have 'completion badge' (such as a letter from the Secretary, an Australia Day Award, or a medal). Or for graduated awards, when you attain a higher level of proficiency in a particular skill you'd receive an 'achievement' or rise on the 'leaderboard' (such as a bonus or a promotion). For training purposes, the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) needs volunteers constantly to be disaster victims and dog bait. Their reward structure includes certificates, coffee mugs, t-shirts, and challenge coins (9 shifts). If you help the National Archives translate some documents from Chinese, they will credit you on their Facebook page. Of course, don't force anyone to play a game.Be VERY CAREFUL with games that put people in competition with others.   The State Department sponsored a "Social Media Tag Challenge" - find 5 “jewel thief actors”  in 5 cities across the globe in one 12-hour day (identifiable by T-shirt), photograph them, and upload the image.Win a $5000 prize. It was successful in stretching and proving the use of social media and crowdsourcing for government purposes - while only 3 of the 5 were found, a team organized by individuals in the U.S., the U.K and the United Arab Emirates was able to locate an individual in Slovakia in under eight hours based only on a photograph. The team located the suspects in New York and Bratislava in about seven hours, and found the suspect in Washington in 11 hours. Source: GCN (http://s.tt/1ae8M). However, competing teams took to spamming people around the world, trashing each other on Twitter, and using dubious methods to induce people to help them. http://idisaster.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-social-media-tag-challenge-crowdscanner-describes-how-they-won/
18. SPECIFIC KINDS OF SITESYour own website.Your primary message. Push people to your website. If you use social media, put those icons on your website. Be clear on what you're offering. I've ended up on email lists I had no idea I was signing up for.Make the URL short and easy to remember and type.Make them accessible, indexable, searchable. Ask a librarian for help here.Be prepared to interactBlogs. Wordpress, Blogger. Tumblr.Blogger is easy and free. Wordpress is more robust. Tumblr is important but under the radar because roughly 30% of its 14 million users are 18 to 24 http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2109891/social-media-changing-means-marketing September 19, 2011). The National Archives and Records Administration has multiple Tumblr feeds and posts a new treasure from the National Archives every day at http://todaysdocument.tumblr.com/Special purpose websiteOne good example is dyingtodrink.orgThe Red Tape ChallengeThe UK prime minister launched the Red Tape Challenge to identify which of the over 21,000 regulations are overly burdensome or unnecessary. there is an Open Comment section and , every few weeks, a highlighted industry. The Department for Transport (mostly highways, separate from Maritime and Rail) listed 415 regs and received 2,097 comments. The result is changes to over a third of them (84 improved, 58 scrapped).  http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/indexhttp://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20111215// http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/statements/greening-20111215a/http://drivinglessonseastbourne.com/blog/tag/paper-counterpart/Scrapping the regulation requiring motorists to hold a paper counterpart to their driving licence by 2015 – saving drivers up to £8m.  (About $13 million US dollars)Following a vigorous process of challenge, both by the public and within Whitehall, a total of 142 road transport regulations will now be scrapped or improved. For example, they are abolishing the regulations on the treatment of lost property on buses. Bus companies currently have to wait 48 hours before they can throw away perishable items left on the bus.Facebook (845 million users)(ages 21 to 44, evenly split male/female)(best platform for interacting with text, video, pictures, updates like a blog)(has all your info in one place)use facebook to connect with customers like TDLR does - people love to talk about themselves and feel a part of a communityuse it as a media outlet or conversation starter on a media FB pageThe public has found Facebook as an effective interactive tool. Electric Cab of Austin had no response from emails to elected officials but quick response from posts on their Facebook.  (Social Media Club Austin, April 2012 #SMCA) AP found Facebook is better than Twitter for social engagement, although it uses both. It has five FB accounts and does a lot of crowdsourcing that way. They asked for memories of the September 11 attacks on the 10th anniversary, got dozens of responses, it turned into 2 stories. When they break news, they put it on the wire and note it on Twitter, and they put more "transcendent" items on Facebook - about 4 to 6 times a day.Timeline cover photo should be 849 by 312 pixels, your profile picture 180×180.Note: Facebook has special terms of service for state and local governments. Among other things,  "If you have an official website, your Page must contain, in a prominent location: "If you are looking for more information about [Government Entity], please visit [website URL]." Set up a fan page. More than 100 fans gets you an easier URL, like facebook.com/NHTSA. Customize set up so first time viewers get a unique landing page such as sign up for email, or external info.Claim your community page, or interest page, or Facebook will generate one without you using a Wikipedia entry, and get ad revenue from people looking for you. See, for example, https://www.facebook.com/pages/NHTSA/137908602900993 (enter NHTSA in Facebook search box)Some nightclubs in England, noting how easy it is to get a fake ID, are having people hand over their smartphones and pull up thei)r Facebook account to check birthdate. (Bouncers 'checking Facebook on phones' as identification, by MaddiLown, BBC 1 Radio, 3 May 2012  http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17930370Downsides: not SEO friendly, need to actively monitor and respond to trolls, and those adsPrivacy issue. Not for me here to get into whether Facebook is a good idea for an individual, but try this: takethislollipop.comPinterest (12 million unique US visitors as of January 2012, the fastest standalone site in history to pass the 10 million user mark, it drives more referral traffic than YouTube, GooglePlus, AND LinkedIn combined) (60% female) (all ages, 80% between 25 and 54) (income - 7% is $24k or less; 70% $25-75k, 23% 75k and up)Rhode Island DOT is on Pinterest! Starting today, Tuesday, April 3, 2012, RIDOT will have boards up on a new social media site called Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows users to post images much like an electronic scrapbook. The Department will be using it to highlight and share images from its construction projects. The address is www.pinterest.com/RIDOTNews . http://www.ri.gov/press/view/16219Etsy, a craft company, has 77,000 followers and 1300 pins. Whole foods has 24,500 followers and 700 pins. http://dailyinfographic.com/a-marketers-guide-to-pinterest-infographicPinterest is all about visual, therefore, brilliant. 70% of the body's receptors are in the eyes. One fourth of the brain is taken up by visual processing. It's visual and free. Post interesting pictures you have rights to.Be sure you have management buy-inPost information and tips.Add a "Pin It" button to your web presence.Use Pinterest to bring traffic to you, not the other way around. The Social Media in Emergency Management (SMEM) community has found Pinterest useful - disaster boards and appsPinterest is why you want to put original images on your own site to get picked up, whether you Pin or not.The US Army is on Pinterest, with Pinterest boards on "DIY and Decor," Army style and fashion, and Army families, among other topics. They also appear to be regularly "repinning" posts by others. http://pinterest.com/usarmy/How to Recruit using PinterestBy Megan Bernstein (http://memeburn.com/2012/04/5-ways-to-use-pinterest-for-recruiting-great-talent/)Create a board for each job Create different boards for each department (For example Finance, IT, Engineering, Design, Marketing), making it easier for potential candidates to easily find the job, and department, they are interested in. Personalise each board with keywords, targeted images, and hashtags when it makes sense. A good way to visually show the job spec is to either create a visually appealing PDF or if stuck for time you could simply upload a screen shot of job descriptions. Make sure to always redirect potential candidates back to your website by providing a link to where the job is posted. Also be sure to include a short description of what they need to do next.2. Pin more than photos Don’t limit your talent pool by only pinning images. Pinterest is a multimedia channel. A nice way to integrate video onto this platform is to link to your company’s YouTube channel to pin videos of employees in action, or ‘A day in the life of’ clips. Make sure the content you upload to each board is specific and appealing to your desired candidate. So if your aim is to attract candidates within the engineering or CSI fields you may want to consider uploading a video detailing your company’s green efforts or social responsibility. Uploading videos on innovation or the latest technology within the business will be more appealing to marketing or IT candidates. QR codes are another good example of integrating multimedia onto the Pinterest platform. By using QR codes you are able to provide quick access to job applications, making it even easier for potential candidates to apply.3. Promote your organisation’s culture and values Essentially you’re looking for the right person for the job, but also the right person for your company. To make sure you get what you’re looking for, use Pinterest to visually display your company culture and values by by pinning images with personality. So if, for example, you’re looking for a candidate that cares about networking, you should pin images of your team at recent industry trade shows or events. If you’re looking for team players, try pinning pictures from your last staff function or team building event.4. Cater to popular interests Bearing in mind that the majority of Pinterest users are women, their interests are likely to include travel, clothes, DIY, or home décor. Use this insight to your advantage by pinning similar content but relating it back to the workplace. A good way to do this would be by pinning images of an interview-savvy work outfit, or the latest trendy laptop or ipad case, and then linking those images back to relevant content, departments, or job specs. As travel is a big theme on Pinterest you could consider pinning images of your different office locations, as well as including nearby places of interest, such as restaurants, sports venues, local parks or recreational venues.5. Connect The key thing on any social media platform is to really engage and connect and it all comes down to relationships. Although Pinterest doesn’t yet allow for direct contact a good way to get around that is to redirect conversations to networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn that have a better conversation functionality. Another thing to ensure is that you provide a number of different ways for potential candidates to get in touch with you. On that note it’s also important that you have the correct people and systems in place to respond to potential candidates. Your first impression is lasting and you certainly don’t want to miss out on your next best employee due to poor admin skills.LinkedIn The Internet's Rolodex. 150 million users, All ages - under 18 to over 65, but 77% are over 25 (mindflash.com infographic 050812). Even split between male and female (51/49). Follow industry groups, control your own agency page.Many federal agencies are on LinkedIn, most of those have pages that define their mission and provide a line or two on the different services the agency offers. Many have user groups there. The Department of State actively updates content on its page with details on job opportunities, for example. The Transportation Research Board Public Involvement Committee has a group where people post reports and questions. http://www.linkedin.com/groups/TRB-Public-Involvement-Committee-ADA-3761902Google Plus. 100 million users. 69% male, 30% female, 1% other (just kidding). Students, marketing professionals, engineers, IT and web industry, but also special interest groups like photographers. NASA is on Google+, it sometimes duplicates its Facebook postings but reaches a different audience.Link Google Plus pages with your Google Adwords (Dell Ch. 4 p. 11)Photo Websites - Picasa, Flickr, SmugmugIt's all photos, but done right it's awesome. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/See snow donut above.
19. TwitterText based posts of up to 140 characters. (140 million active users, 340 million tweets per day) (short, to the point updates; monitor your "brand," customer service/quick interaction and response in front of an audience) (55% female/45% male) (ages 18-49) Provide links to content relevant to your audience. Always include a hyperlink.1 out of 5 journalists access Twitter at least once a day as part of their story sourcing. (Dell Social Media Toolkit, Chapter 1, Page 4, http://www.dell.co.uk/business/socialmedia citing Cision, “European survey highlights journalists’ increasing dependency on social media,” Sept. 2010http://uk.cision.com/News-room/Press-releases/European-survey-highlights-journalists-increasing-dependency-on-social-media/make it 2 way,follow and search but don't be creepy,have a plan for what-ifsIf you have multiple accounts, make it clear who's who/what's what. You can vary your strategy. Associated Press has a flagship Twitter account and 20 micro-accounts. The main account, @AP has 900,000 followers and has little interactivity, but the AP fashion account @AP_Fashion takes a more conversational account with its 200,000 followers. use it as a media outletHas a large follower dropoff rate if information turns into spam through content or frequency.The Gettysburg Address would only have taken about a dozen tweets, but would have lost people after #3. Twitter management tools: Tweetdeck, Hootsuite. Monitoring: tweetchat.com, tweetgrid, twitterfall.Twitter measurement tools: tweetlevel, tweetreach, twittergrader, empire avenueknowyourfollowers.com/?t=32400 - helps you #KnowYourFollowers with maps, stats and graphs (for a charge)You will be tempted to tweet for free stuff. Don't, it's tacky.Here's a good way not to sound like Mom, from May 9, 2012.   @TxDOTAustin   Tickets for not buckling up yourself or your kids can cost up to $250 plus court costs. texasclickitorticket.com#buckleuptx Please RTTry to reserve your natural address. NHTSA is @NHTSAgov, but that didn’t stop 36 people from following @NHTSA (no tweets).Twitter is good for specific interests. NCDOT's has a Twitter account tailored to ferry customers, which provide traffic and travel conditions updates to subscribers. http://www.gis.fhwa.dot.gov/documents/web20report/web20report.htmResearchers: How to cite a tweet (per the Modern Language Association). Put author’s real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are known and they differ. If only the user name is known, give it alone. Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the entry with the date and time of the message (in your timezone) and the medium of publication (Tweet). http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/cite_a_tweetHashtagsuse hashtags for search and twitter-chats,  follow hashtags to keep up with what people are saying, check for standards or work with others to develop (e.g. #wx for weather, #txwx for Texas Weather, Oncor now using also. )If you have Google, you are probably using Google Alerts. A similar service for Twitter is Twilert.Rules for TwitterThe IBM Center for the Business of Government published a report titled "Working the Network: A Manager’s Guide for Using Twitter in Government" that outlines four different strategies for Twitter: push, pull, networking, and customer service, each with different approaches for number of accounts, policies, and so forth. It also provides a good primer for Twitter. http://www.businessofgovernment.org/report/working-network-manager%E2%80%99s-guide-using-twitter-governmentMeg Pickard's Twitter Rules http://www.megpickard.com/archive/how-to-communicate-with-the-online-community-a-report-from-both-sides-of-the-wall/#more-3392Listen, Watch, and Learn. Be Authentic. Get rid of PR-speak (Changing a press release to first person tense isn’t blogging. Squishing press releases into 140 characters isn’t Twittering.) Be responsive. Don't be creepy/stalkery/jumping out of the bushes at people who mention your agency or area. Integrate your media. Act with integrity. Be prepared for when you mess up. Help people look good. Provide good content. Learn from your own experiences.15 commandments for government agencies on Twitter, from GovLoop.com and www.ForumOne.com/government http://www.govloop.com/page/15-commandments-for-government-agencies-on-twitterThou Shalt Listen Before You Leap.  We cannot emphasize enough the fact that any government organization should learn to monitor social media before they even attempt to create a Twitter (or any other type of) account.2. Thou Shalt Use Thy Profile Info Properly.  Your profile should entice people to want to follow and engage with you. That means putting up a picture (a logo or other identifier) and filling in your profile information.3. Thou Shalt Have a Disclaimer.  Do you only plan to tweet from Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:00 or only check for mentions once a day at 3:00 pm? Fine, but you need to spell this out. You need a good disclaimer!4. Thou Shalt Not Bully.  As a government agency, you certainly want to give some authority to your account and discourage spoofers who may want to intentionally mislead the public. And certainly you will want to report to Twitter any accounts that appear to be intentionally spoofing your account and/or tweeting misleading information.5. Thou Shalt Tweet Regularly.  When deciding to follow your organization’s account or not, one of the first thing twittizens will do is look at your last tweet. If it is 2 months old, forget about it!6. Thou Shalt Integrate Thy Tweet Approval Process.  No one wants to go back ten times to get what is essentially the same content approved over and over again. The trick is to build in an approval process into your organization’s regular content approval process.7. Thou Shalt Not Register Alternate Accounts.  It is standard procedure for government organizations to register alternate site names to prevent squatters or spoofers. Unfortunately, this is forbidden under Twitter Rules and Twitter is pretty specific about it.8. Thou Shalt Not Automate Thy Tweets.  I know it can be tempting! Automation reduces the workload, but there are two major drawbacks:1 - It is not social2 - It can get you in trouble!9. Thou Shalt Tweet in First Person.  OK. This may sound like strange advice for an organization that frequently issues highly impersonal press releases: “Minister Soandso to visit site of the new WidgetrUs factory.” But experience has shown time and again that an individual on Twitter will beat out an anonymous organization hands down on followers, retweets, etc. So find a way to add humanity to your streams if you can.10. Thou Shalt Not Bait and Switch.  It can be tempting to spice-up our tweets to get more clicks, RTs, etc. This is especially true in the public sector where content can sometimes be...shall we say...dry. DON’T!11. Thou Shalt Not Spam.  Government organizations don’t spam, do they? Maybe not intentionally, but Twitter has a long list of behaviors that it qualifies as spam that you might not have thought of.12. Thou Shalt Be Selective of Who You Follow.  Following an individual or an organization on Twitter could be considered an endorsement of that individual or organization. So you will need to be selective and strategic about it.13. Thou Shalt Monitor Thy Account.  Creating a Twitter account is one thing but keeping it alive is another. If you create a Twitter account for your organization, you had better do some thinking beforehand.14. Thou Shalt Contribute To the Conversation.  Yes, you can use Twitter purely as a push medium and, indeed, some of the bigshots do. But you can move your agenda forward by retweeting those accounts that have the same goals as your organization.15. Thou Shalt Measure for Success.  As a government organization, you always have a duty to spend taxpayer money responsibly. In order to do this, you have to show that the resources you expended for “this Twitter thing” were justified.
20. WHEN THINGS GO WRONGBe able to laugh at yourself. Remember this line from George Carlin? 213 have died on nation's roadways this weekend. The National Safety Council expects 500. You're not trying hard enough!Evaluating response to negative comments on someone else's blog - See Air Force Blog Assessment chart, by Jeremiah Owyanghttp://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/12/31/diagram-how-the-air-force-response-to-blogs/EPA's version: http://www.epa.gov/irmpoli8/policies/respond.pdfIn 2011, Austin wanted to rename its solid waste services department and put it to an online vote. The winner: "The Fred Durst Society of the Humanities and Arts." Durst is lead singer of Limp Bizkit. result: "Austin Resource Recovery" Situational awareness – don’t just pop off. November 2011: Ashton Kutcher tweets "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste." Paterno, as most of the world with access to the Internet or a TV knows by now, was fired in the wake of a child sex-abuse scandal in which he admitted he was one of two people who knew what was allegedly going on. @AplusK has 8 million followers. He apologized and turned the account over to PR managers. (Source: LA Times)February 2011: "Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head's Midas Touch Beer...when we drink we do it right #GettingSlizzerd." On the American Red Cross account.  This could have been a social media nightmare, except the Red Cross stepped in quickly and owned the mistake. They were able to deflect with a humorous follow up tweet that read: "We've deleted the rogue tweet, but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we've confiscated the keys." From there Dogfish got involved. They responded with "@dogfish beer fans, donate 2 @redcross 2 day. Tweet with #gettingslizzerd. Donate here.“Advice: Be honest. Listen. Respect social channels like traditional communication channels.Josh McColough's 5 ways to respond to nasty Facebook comments (posted September 15, 2011)http://www.healthcarecommunication.com/Main/Articles/7b876ac2-c620-4107-a203-3bded0734acd.aspxSocial media etiquette dictates that you do not delete negative comments on Facebook (unless they use abusive language with specific employee names, etc.). You do not wait to respond. You do not ever ignore it completely.  What you should do is both reasonable and simple:Comment immediately with an apology and ask if it would be okay for someone to follow up personally with them within the next 24 hours. This should never be "canned" material, by the way.Identify/notify the care team involved with the experience. If you have a patient experience representative or team (as more hospitals do now and yours definitely should), they should be notified to get the ball rolling.Keep the patient informed on Facebook with any updates ("Hey Frank, I've passed along your comment to our Patient Experience representative/team. Would it be okay for them to contact you directly?")Make sure that the loop is closed—usually our CNO follows up personally with all patient complaints that are clinical in nature; or our ER Director if it's ER-related; etc.Do this process every time, for every complaint. It isn't rocket science. It's just good customer service in the social media ageTOP 10 WAYS TO SURVIVE A SOCIAL MEDIA BLUNDER Before you say anything on social media, take into account everyone who could be in your audience, not just the people you know for sure are in your audience. Remember, not everybody thinks exactly the same way you do.2. Before you open up any type of social media forum, have a policy in place that lets people know that certain types of speech aren't going to be tolerated and that the platform is being moderated.3. If you find yourself getting emotionally involved in something online, take a step back. Don't let commenters get you riled up as you could end up saying something you regret.4. Think about who is doing your social media postings. An intern may be comfortable using Facebook and Twitter, but are they the right person to be representing your brand online? It is easier to teach someone who knows your brand/business about social media than it is to teach someone who only knows social media about your company.5. Set up multiple administrators on all social media accounts just in case you can't get in touch with someone when you need to - or they leave the company.6. Make it easy to do the right thing when you are setting up your policies.7. Own a mistake and do it quickly. Don't try to hide from it. It's not going away.8. Have a friend or an editor check things out. It might seem funny to you, but it may not be to everyone.9. Understand that you can't control social media. Instead, be ready to react and take ownership when something does happen.10. Don't be insulting or come off defensive. All it takes is one bad post to create a social media nightmare.(Sacramento Social Media Club via http://www.news10.net/news/article/159025/2/Avoid-Getting-slizzerd-10-ways-to-handle-a-social-media-blunder )Can you block people? 37% of states selectively block users. Take into account FOIA and Open Records Act. (NASCIO report Friends Followers & Feeds 2010, p. 16)
21. Yelp, Google Local (was Google Places)..... Your customers are on these review sites, talking about their experience at the DMV or wherever.Capitol Metro has 61 reviews and rates 3 out of 5 stars.  Via Metropolitan Transit, 12 reviews, 4 stars.Houston Metro Rail, 28 reviews, 4 starsPort Bolivar Ferry - 19 reviews, 4.5 starsAustin Police Department has 3.5 stars with 13 reviews.The DPS, 63 reviews. 2 stars. Even Susannah Dickinson’s house is on Google Local, and she’s been dead 130 years. (one of 2 survivors of the Alamo, house is in Austin).Other pages like Yelp: Superpages, TripAdvisor, Citysearch, Opentable, Google Local (was Google Places, see http://searchengineland.com/google-places-is-over-company-makes-google-the-center-of-gravity-for-local-search-122770).GENERAL TIPSIt's okay to have a personality but don't be sarcastic.If you are in public service, be prepared to go 24/7 because the public will.enlist your natural partners to expand your reach (e.g. Oncor and disaster preparedness), There are niche communities in social media. If you are involved in disasters there is a whole social media community, #smem - on Yahoo groups, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, .... work with others like VOAD and focus on your strengths (that's a little different from the previous one) Leverage your networks to spread the message. For example,   Texas grid operator @ERCOT_ISO now offers email alerts to consumers in the event of grid emergencies:bit.ly/KsFIEM  was tweeted by Austin Energy  @AustinEnergy Another example, the Greater Austin Chamber's Beth Ann Ray tweets "Hate traffic? Think we should do more 2 address #transportation? Become educated before you vote! via @KUTNews #atxgov [link].  KUTNewsretweets it. Enlist your audience to magnify your message. TDLR provides an example: “Send us a picture of your business”highlight the best practices.Engage them in the process. How about “Send us your best pic of Loop 410 (not taken while driving). Winner gets a highway map.”Measure your resultsMetrics help improve performance in several ways: 1) they drive awareness;  2) they spur interest in deeper metrics, e.g. "If we can measure our fan count, what else can we measure?"; 3) they help focus the conversation around performance, e.g. "What are the REAL metrics we care about given our mission?"; and 4) they foster accountability. (Mark Malseedhttp://www.govloop.com/page/government-social-media-leader)What you can measure:Facebook - likes, impressions, demographics, sign-ups, links clickedTwitter - folowers, retweets, links clickedYouTube - plays, pauses, mutes, hot spots, stops, view time, full screens. YouTube gives you great - you can understand your audience demographic (m/f, age), their location, what devices they are watching on, how long they watch for. FourSquare - checkins by time, top users, gender breakdown, broadcasts to Twitter and FB. For storefronts, like DMV?Google Analytics is free, shows traffic, pageviews, and referring sites, updates every 24 hours. Clicky does that and is constant update.The Volpe Center says More work is needed to develop measures to assess the effectiveness of applications." State DOTs are using some metrics and anecdotal evidence to evaluate use of 2.0 tools, including quantitative metrics such as the number of site "followers" or "fans." However, metrics that evaluate whether the tools are meeting users' needs are not yet common and anecdotal evidence is commonly being used for this purpose. This could be due to the fact that the tools are still relatively new and the state DOTs have not yet collected sufficient data for comprehensive evaluation. Use of qualitative metrics, such as the quality of public interaction the site supported, might help offer a better understanding of the sites' effectiveness.  TxDOT uses qualitative measures. As agencies collect more data on the tools, it is expected that they will be able to develop more robust performance measures."  (Current Uses of Web 2.0 Applications in Transportation, March 2010  http://www.gis.fhwa.dot.gov/documents/web20report/web20report.htm)
22. Some items we didn’t get to today:AudioVideoSEOLocation based servicesPosting vs. LinkingCopyrightMobile optimized websitesAppsProper vs. improper messagesSteven Polunskypolunsky@gmail.comAustin, Texas