Post on 12-Mar-2018
Social Media: Pros and
Cons Meagan Dorsch, Public Affairs Director
Is Social Media A Fad?
Social Media Universe
Source: Social Media Revolution
If Wikipedia paid every
time an article was posted
online: $1,712 /hour
If Facebook were a country:
3rd Largest
24 of 25 largest
newspapers
seeing decline in
subscriptions
It's One Tool
3 + Reasons to Join
1. Free
2. Public
3. Where people are
4. Bypass media
5. More control over message
6. Potential to reach more people
7. Digital campaign trail
History of Social Media
Fourth Generation - Crowd Sourcing
Open Graph Ning / GovLoop
Third Generation - Real Time
Facebook Twitter Foursquare
Second Generation- Two Way Communication
Blogs Podcasts
First Generation - One Way Communication
Napster Classmates
Information Loop, 2005
Legislature
Press Release
Journalist Publication/
Website
Public
Information Loop, 2011 Legislature
Tweet
Blog
Public
Journalist
Press Release
Re-Tweeted
New Record!
8%
16%
29%
46%
61%
65%
2%
9%
13%
27%
38%
43%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Ever Yesterday
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
Facebook Over 800M active
users
50% are active
Fastest growing demo: 55-65F
750B minutes on FB
Average 130 friends
350M mobile
(Hubspot, Facebook)
53,457,258
723,793 623,525 565,156 325,679
Facebook Blogger Tumblr Twitter LinkedIn
FB Pros
#1 SN site
Control who follows
Check in
Video chat
Embed video and photos
Promote events
Cheap advertising
Metrics
FB Cons
Time
Public
Supporters not public
Media
Facebook ©
“Like” means….
LinkedIn •120M
•60% users income
above $90,000
•Executives from all
2011 Fortune 500
companies
•2M companies have
pages
Source: LinkedIn
LinkedIn Pros
Professional tone
Recruiting tool
Growing in popularity
Affordable
advertising
Legislators outside
legislature
Lobbyists
LinkedIn Cons
Not mainstream
Legislatures haven’t
found voice
Media looking for
jobs
You Tube
3B views a day
45 hours of video
uploaded every minute
Owns 80% online video
market
More video uploaded to
YouTube in one month
than the three major US
networks created in 60
years
Hubspot, YouTube
Video Viewing
YouTube Pros
2nd largest search
engine
iPads, tablets
Own channel
Embed video website
Link to other SN sites
Test Tube
YouTube Cons
20 minutes
Tough competition
Not best @ live
streaming
175 M
600 Tweets/Second
140 characters
Fastest Growing Demo: 35+
119M following 1+
85M 1+ followers
56M following 0
90M 0 followers
Source: Hubspot, Twitter, Business Insider
Twitter Pros
Breaking news is
happening
Legislators daily log
Feel public
Active community
GeoTweeting
3rd party metrics
Twitter Cons
140
INFORMATION
#1 discussion- TV
Hollywood celebrities
Foursquare
10M users
3M check-in's / day
500 merchants use
platform
Similar service
added to Twitter and
FB
Source: Foursquare
FourSquare Pros
Engage followers
Promote events
Real time check-in
Mayor
FourSquare Cons
Safety
Business community
Google+
Google+ Pros
New
Potential
Create circles
Videochat
Syncs to Google
products
Google+ Cons
Who is on?
Not Google’s
executives
Business community
hybrid
Conversation weird
Mobile Visit SN Sites
16%
61%
68%
109%
67%
45% 41%
76%
44%
37%
70%
Source: Nielsen Ratings, 2011
Percentage increase from 2010 to 2011
Cool Legislative Projects
HI Senate Paperless
Initiative, YouTube
CT Senate Jobs Bill, Google
Maps
Legislatures Using SM
Legislative sites
Social Media Policies
Internet Campaigning
Federal Agencies and DOD
Pitfalls to Avoid
Not an eating
contest
Public, used as
such
90% business,
10% personal
Who is audience?
Expected of You Communicate
Active
Authentic
Symmetrical
communication
3%
7% 6%
11%
26%
13%
28%
4% 2%
More than
once a day
Once
a day
Every other
day
Twice
a week
Once
a week
Twice a
month
Once a
month or
less
Never Other
Source: HubSpot, 2011
Social Media Strategy
Strategy v Policy
Is it S.M.A.R.T
– Specific
– Measurable
– Attainable
– Realistic
– Tangible
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
Source: WebLiquid and RSW/US
Social Media Bucket List
Text
Tweet
Join social networking site
Start a blog
Ask a question via crowd sourcing (GovLoop)
Produce a Podcast or Vidcast
Post 3 videos on YouTube
Post 1 photo album on Flickr
Use social bookmarking
Start using an RSS newsfeed
Social Media Pages
Be honest about who is posting
Controversial comments
– Address comment
– Provide offline contact information
– Discuss resolution
– Explain why taking down comment
Post your policy
Let people know where you are (widgets)
SM Pros Free
People are
Sync to smartphone
Apps
Mainstream
Changed the way we
communicate
Election tool
SM Cons Time
Public
Rules (floor & campaign)
Rude comments
Measurements
Rise and Fall of Social Media
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Facebook YouTube MySpace Yahoo! Answers Twitter Linkedin