Social Media, the Big Picture

Today’s Internet is everywhere … Are you ready?

Lloyd D. Brown, Director of CommunicationsWestern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

August 7, 2013

What we’ll cover

• What are the trends in social media usage, tool adoption

• The current state of DOTs social media usage

Let’s review• 1990 - AOL rules• 1996 – Cable broadband• 1998 – “Online PR” • 2000 – Rise of streaming audio• 2002 – AOL disappearing• 2005 – What’s a blog?• 2006 – We need a blog!• 2007 – Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin• 2009 – Smart phones, iPads = mobility

To get to the heart of social media adoption,

we first must understand Internet

access.

Race

Education

Geography

Disability

Internet access

Contributing factors Latest statistics

Pew Internet and American Life Project, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Digital-differences/Overview.aspx

• Nearly 1 in 5 Americans do not use Internet

• A third of Americans with disabilities are less likely to go online

• ‘Mobile’ is changing the game

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS

It’s a mobile world

Social media tools

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

It’s all about the conversation!

FacebookStill one of the most challenging social media outlets.

• Privacy• Changing

algorithms• Facebook ‘fatigue’

Twitter Microblogging site continuing to change our news/information culture in 140 characters.

• 7 years old• 400 million ‘tweets’ a

day• Careers devastated,

careers made

YouTube

Search Email Shop Social network

Banking

92% 91% 71% 64% 61%

• More than 1 BILLION visitors a day

• More than 2 BILLION searches a day

Two Billion Views?

http://youtu.be/6f-z_hFpwQk

So what are people doing online?

Instagram

• 130 million users• 16 billion photos shared• On average, users spent 257

mins./month on Instagram

Quick pause: Do you remember?

Social media = All ages“Six out of ten internet users ages 50-64 are social networking site users, as are 43% of those ages 65 and older.”

- Pew Study

Source: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/social-networking-sites/Findings.aspx?view=all

Social media usage

Source: http://sourcedigit.com/1488-social-media-trend-2013-social-networking-is-all-about-mobile/

* Per month

*

Wireless generations?• 63% of American adults

connect to the Internet wirelessly 

• However, 6 in 10 American adults connect via broadband (as of Aug. 2011)

Nearly 90% of adults with household income over $75,000 annually have broadband access.

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Source: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Digital-differences/Overview/Digital-differences.aspx

Connected devices here to stay

American ownership:• Cell phones - 91%• Netbooks/laptops - 61%• E-readers - 26%• Tablet computers - 34%

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As of May 2013. Source: http://pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data/Device-Ownership.aspx

Forget the desk: We’re moving

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Since 2009, laptop computers have out sold desktops

Source: http://www.pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data/Device-Ownership.aspx

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/

We love our ‘smart’ phones • 91% of ALL adults own a mobile phone• Smart phone owners (56%) now outnumber

users of basic cell phones.

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Source: http://pewinternet.org/Trend-Data-%28Adults%29/Device-Ownership.aspx

Mobile phones open opportunities

New York Times: “Other cultural forces aside, minorities, lower-income households and younger adults access the Internet at higher rates on mobile devices because they often do not have computers at home.”

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Photo by Ed Yourdon

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/technology/02drill.html?_r=1

Emerging social media

• Pinterest• Storify• SnapChat• Vine • Path• Banjo

DOT SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE

The current state of

History of the survey

• AASHTO’s first social media survey of state DOTs published in 2010.

• 26 states were using Twitter – primarily relaying road/traffic information

• 14 states used Facebook.• 7 states had a blog• 10 states used podcasting

It was 1-way outreach in 2010

• Survey respondents said social media was effective way of reaching an audience

• Every state relied on news releases to reach media.

• Only two states said they had reduced or cut other activities to manage social media.

In 2012, the world changesGood bye old tools, Hello new tools

• 7 states use Pinterest, 4 states use Storify• Linkedin use cut in half, just 16% use

podcasts• 1/4th of states have staff dedicated to

social media full time• 11 states give their employees access to

social media sites at work.

Social media tool usageMost used social media tools

2012 = Engagement

“We used to be very rigid and formal in all our responses. Now, we're trying to humanize the feed. We post pictures of ourselves and answer the feed as people (saying I and we) instead of an agency (DOT says...). It has helped tremendously and we've received really good public feedback!”

“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.”

Challenges aheadToo many tools, not enough time

“Already we are spread kind of thin, so I anticipate we will have to make a choice at some point: either we shrink our social media presence and focus on the most successful/useful tools, or we hire someone to manage all of them full time.”

Looking ahead at 2013• Social media emerging as public

involvement tool.• A social media is standard tool. Focus now

is on best practices, staffing, access to tools.

• And …

IN A SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Establishing a brand …

A new opportunity for engagement

Formal federal decision-making process does not directly provide for the use of these new engagement technologies … but also doesn’t prohibit them.

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New technologies = Old problems• You still need a message

that beaks through the information clutter

• Accuracy and timeliness of information remain critical concerns for communication teams

• New tools complement old tactics … more pressure on communication teams to manage more tools

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Have a plan – use it• What are you trying to do?

Be informational? Collect comments? Be promotional? You need to know this.

• Audience? Where are they most likely to be? What are they most

likely doing?

• Be patient: Building community takes time. No. 1 rule of engagement: “Have a take. Don’t suck.”

(lifted from sports radio host, Jim Rome)

When building ‘social’ planKeep doing the basics well. • Be available: Is the web site easy to

access? What about a mobile app?• Be responsive: Are there internal

processes in place to handle questions or to pass along information?

• Be creative: Are there opportunities to engage the public in new ways?

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Conclusion• The public is moving, no longer limited by

time or space.• The new technologies bring with them old

challenges … and, new opportunities• Focus on a core communications program

that includes: Accountability Responsiveness Creativity

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Social Media, the Big Picture

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

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

Today’s Internet is everywhere … Are you ready?