Connecting
with
New Media
Oakland County, Michigan
www.oakgov.com
Jim Taylor
taylorj@oakgov.com
Sandy Jurek
jureks@oakgov.com
Awards and Recognition
3rd Place in 2010,
County Portal
Category
From the Center
for Digital
Government
First Place in 2009
Digital Counties
Survey from the
Center for Digital
Government
New Media
• Why it’s important?
• Communicating through multiple
channels
• How can we use it? (Facebook)
New Media Trends Happen Fast
Years to Reach 50 Million Users
Radio – 38 years
TV – 13 years
Internet – 4 years
iPod – 3 years
Facebook – 1 year
200 million users
iPhone – 9 months
1 Billion Apps
Smart Phones Change Everything
A new University of
Michigan study finds
mobile technology
users are highly
engaged in civic life.
(Campbell et al., Journal of
Communication, Sept. 2010)
These are “likely voters” and their numbers are growing.
TREND: Mobile
97% of Adults own a cell
phone or other web-ready
mobile device
By 2012, the total shipment
of Smart Phones will exceed
the total shipment of Desktop
and Notebook PCs
By 2020 the mobile device will
be the world’s PRIMARY
connection tool to the Internet
TREND: At Home
Social Networking: Connecting with people
in their own networks…
“Social Media isn’t
a fad, it’s a
fundamental shift
in the way we
communicate.”
– socialnomics.net
Facebook:
1/2 Billion
active users
Facebook:
tops Google for
weekly traffic
YouTube:
the #2 search
engine in the world
LinkedIn:
85 million
registered
users
Blogs:
200,000,000
currently exist
Twitter:
175 million
registered
users
Social Networking is about
fishing where the fish are
Where are your fish?
“If you are not involved, you are not being heard!”
Benefits of Social Media
Why use Social Media?
• Two-way communication with audience rather than
one-way, like broadcast or print media (interact)
• Connect and understand to what people want and find
possible solutions (listen)
• Enhance PR capabilities (promote)
• Share and discuss interesting stories/events (engage)
• Build social capital and enable connections that can
encourage growth as well as help build community ties by
creating a place to visit and interact online (maintain/grow)
Connecting Through Multiple Channels
More Communication Channels
& Broader Reach
•
•
•
•
•
•
Blogs – Stories/online journal
Flickr – Photos/sharing
Facebook – Community/conversation
LinkedIn – Professional networking
Twitter – Micro stories/status
YouTube – Videos/sharing
Smaller Budgets & Higher Expectations
Expectations
• Engage citizens
• Build community
• Deliver better
services
• Lower Costs
• Promote and use
advanced
technologies use
Cost Reduction/Investment Blog
In 2009, Oakland County IT was asked to make
$1.2 million in budget cuts
How did we do this?
x Management meeting behind closed doors?
x Reduce or eliminate services?
x Mass layoffs?
An Example: Cost Reduction
 Collaborate to find a better way…
Collaborative Cost Reduction
Generate new ideas &
engage employees in constructive cost reduction
Employee suggestions
produced
substantial savings
Cost Reduction/Investment Blog
How does it work?
1
4
SUGGEST:
Employees
post a new
idea on the
blog
ACT:
Management
approves or
declines each
idea
2
5
DISCUSS:
Others
comment on
the posted
ideas
SHARE:
Management
decisions are
posted on the
blog
3
EVALUATE:
Weekly review
of ideas by
management
6
TALLY:
Running
total of cost
savings is
posted on
the blog
Crowdsourcing
The Crowdsourcing Pilot Project was created through
an educational partnership with MSU
Limited budget & resources
Dedicated student team
Successful project
& beneficial new
citizen-centric service
Crowdsourcing
Public forum for engaging citizens
in local government decisions
1
Oakland County will
pose questions about:
 Government priorities
 Program development
 And more
3
2
Citizens can:
 Respond to questions
 Make suggestions
 Post comments
 Rank proposals by voting
for the ideas they like best
Public input is used to shape the future of
County government programs and services
Facebook
What is it: The world’s most popular
social network – a place where
people create a profile, connect
with friends, and share news
How can it be used:
• Direct interaction with audience
• In conjunction with press
releases, events or happenings
that the public may find
interesting (post links to articles,
blogs or other new media with a
comment or two)
• All posts and comments visible;
people see each other’s
comments and can interact with
one another
NetVolunteers
What is it?
 Volunteers from the community
 Sharing an interest or role in
local government
 Facilitating online communities
around specific topics using
Oakland County’s social
networking programs
Why do it?
 Reduce support costs
 Invite and support citizen
engagement in local government
 Create new ways to solicit input
from the community
 Increase awareness and use of
local government programs and
services
NetVolunteers
How does it work?
1
4
Identify
program
purpose &
goals
Provide
initial
training
Create
2 volunteer
3
rewards &
incentives
5
Provide
ongoing
support
6
Recruit &
select
volunteers
Conduct
periodic
program
reviews
Managing & Facilitating Social Media
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Social Media Operating Procedures
Best practices/standards
Leadership buy-in
Communication
Risk vs. reward
Legal & personnel issues
Organizational culture (flexibility/agility)
Training & support
Use Social Networking to…
• Enhance services &
increase satisfaction
• Generate interest
• Encourage interaction
• Collaborate
• Be transparent
• Deliver information
and services the way
people expect &
want
Do…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Establish practices and/or policy
Gain leadership support
Integrate as day-to-day practice
Focus topics on popularity &
purpose
Empower people to maintain
Create partnerships
Use free/non-traditional resources
Be flexible/experiment and give it
time
Institutionalize Social Networking
Embrace &
Create
Standardize &
Communicate
Empower &
Train/Support
Maintain &
Respond
Give them
something
to talk
about!
Expand &
Partner
Be Flexible &
Learn
Pitfalls!
Don’t…
• Set something up and never go
back
• Think that no one is reading your
posts – be grammatically correct
• Use only one resource – diversify
• Think that you can ignore it
because it’s a fad or waste of
time
• Hold people back in your
organization who are willing to do
it
• Ignore non-traditional resources,
such as students, volunteers and
members of your community
• Be afraid to experiment
Naysayers quotes:
“That will never work!”
“The Internet is for ‘Techno
Wienies.’”
“The numbers just aren’t there.”
“Where’s the proof?”
“Have you lost your marbles?”
“What a waste of time!”
Questions
so far?
Wanna see more?
Twitter
What is it: Sharing your micro
stories, status updates and
comments to other
Twitterers in 140 characters
or less.
How can it be used:
• Let people instantly know
when something is
happening (emergencies, the
start of a contest, status on
registrations, events, etc.)
• Benefit from Re-Tweets; viral
marketing approach
• Do it from anywhere from
Smart Phone
• Potential rapid feedback
LinkedIN
What is it: A professional network
for business
How can it be used:
• Keep in touch with current and
past co-workers
• Create an online resume
w/recommendations
• Recruitment and verification of
skills/history of work
• Make new professional
connections
• Create professional networking
events and connect with others
currently in your field of work
• Find subject-area experts
Flickr
What is it: Photo/image sharing –
the world’s most popular
photo site
How can it be used:
• Post photos of events,
speeches and other
happenings
• Encourage the public to post
their pictures of events to
create a collection of photos
for everyone to enjoy
• Helps provide visual interest
and more insight
YouTube
What is it: Video hosting and sharing
How can it be used:
• Provides a way for quickly
distributing videos created at a
public event or meeting
• Enables easy and quick insertion of
video in a webpage
• Provides a way to make meetings
(public), conferences, press events,
other meetings, etc. more visible
We are all in this together
Let’s Collaborate and Share
Sources & Statistics
 Apple product news & usage statistics






http://www.apple.com/hotnews/
comScore – market research & digital marketing intelligence
http://www.comscore.com/
Facebook usage statistics
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
Grunwald Associates Kids’ Social Networking Study
http://www.grunwald.com/surveys/sn/index.php
Mashable Social Media Guide
http://mashable.com/
Pew Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org/
Socialnomics Social Media Blog
http://socialnomics.net/
More
info…
http://www.oakgov.com/egov/presentations/