Incorporating New Media into the Environmental Review Process: A State DOT Overview

Lloyd D. BrownDirector of Communications

American Association of State

Highway and Transportation Officials

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

Washington, D.C.January 16, 2013

What we’ll cover

• Social media tools• How are they being used• A few best practices

Social media tools

What’s so social about today’s media?• Facebook• Twitter• YouTube

It’s all about the conversation!

Face it: Today it’s all about MOBILE!

• 85% of U.S. adults own a cell phone.

• At least 25% own tablets (pre-holiday season)

This leads to:

"Just in Time" information searches

Massive downloads of data/apps

Where are the eyeballs?

‘Consumers downloaded a record 1.76 billion apps between Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2012.’

http://gigaom.com/mobile/app-downloads-hit-record-1-76-billion-over-holiday-week/

Note the growth in tablet computer ownership

Most state use social media… but few actually use it socially

2012 AASHTO survey of state DOTS found:• 37 states use Twitter• 32 states use Facebook• 16 states have blogs• 7 states use Pinterest, 4 states use Storify• Just 11 states give their employees access

to social media sites at work.

Social media content

• Primarily operationally focused Road closures, current traffic, weather alerts

• Safety messages/Campaigns• General interest and promotional

information

What’s missing? Environmental engagement

But the conversation is changing

"We’re seeing a slow and steady gain in Twitter and Facebook followers. We’re seeing more and more people asking questions, sharing comments or airing concerns via these two medium."

Putting social media to work

2011 focus groups & interviews reported state DOTs barriers to implementation:• Organizational culture• Budgets• Legal concerns

Best practices• Social media are complementary tactics• A social media plan should include:

specifics about how your agency will use social media and what it hopes to achieve,

protocols for dealing with inappropriate comments or sensitive postings,

clarifies team or individual responsibilities for regularly updating the sites

and a process for recording comments

DOTs and Public Engagement: Social Media in the NEPA process

4/26/2012 13

Contact: Lloyd D. Brown, Director of CommunicationsAmerican Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

(202) 624-5802 office(202) 677-5811 celllbrown@aashto.org