Social Media and Public Lands Recreation

Travis Mason-Bushman, Alaska Region USDA Forest Service RLM/SCA

Tweeting:Not Just For The Birds

An emerging set of mass communications platforms distinguished by the following features:

User-created contentInherently interactiveSymmetrical relationshipsSimple, easy to useFrequent content updatesShort, concise messagesMobile-optimized

What is Social Media?

Social media matters: the numbers

FlickrCNN

MySpaceWordPressCraigslistBlogspot

WikipediaTwitter

YouTubeFacebook

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Unique visitors (millions)

Source: Google Analytics/Quantcast, Dec. 2010 (U.S.)

22 percent of all online time is spent on social media (Nielsen)

Facebook accounts for 25 percent of all U.S. Internet pageviews (comScore)

In today’s world, being engaged with social media is as critical as having a Web site or a phone number

Social Media Is Not Optional

Help, I’m drowning in a sea of logos!

Nobody uses every possible social media outlet

Pick the best platforms for specific needsReaching the most people with the least effortMedia-centric sites (video, photos, etc.)Connect with diverse populations

Bottom line for us: follow the crowdWe’ll focus on three dominant platforms:

FacebookYouTubeTwitter

So how do you choose?

Getting The (Green) Pants Beat Off UsOr, how the National Park Service is drinking our milkshake when it comes to social media

NPS has embraced multi-platform social media

Even small sites have major presences

Units authorized to use the following, and moreFacebookYouTubeVimeo

Resources, staff have been committed to development

The NPS is leading the way

“We want to connect with you, and keep you

connected with us.”

Promoting science and research

Announcing related local events

Answering visitor questions

Delivering safety and resource protection messages to the public

@YosemiteNPS on Twitter – with 6,000+ followers

Yosemite on Facebook

Glacier National Park on YouTube – thousands are watching

If the Forest Service doesn’t want to be left behind, social media policies and priorities need to start changing

Units need decentralized authority to create Facebook pages, develop and post YouTube videos, etc.

Staff should be empowered to connect on these platforms, share what they’re doing, reach out to build relationships with visitors and stakeholders

The bottom line

Going social:Really not that scary. Honest.

“If you really can’t trust your employees with social media, you have

a hiring problem.”–Amber Naslund, VP Social Strategy,

Radian6

The most revolutionary part of social media is how really easy it is to use

Creating a Twitter account takes about 30 seconds

Updates should be regular, but need not be hyperactively-frequent.

Quality: Good enough, really isPeople watching YouTube videos don’t expect

technical brilliance or world-class special effects

The substance of content trumps its presentation

Social media: it ain’t rocket surgery

Social media is just that – socialThis means staff using social media must be

encouraged to engage in community conversationInvite discussion and feedback on issuesRespond to questions and comments from followersBuild a diverse, interested, active constituency

Trying to do social media without the “social” aspect is worse than useless – it breeds distrust/mockery along with slow or negative network growth

One-way is the wrong way

Building an audience requires making people aware that you existCreate a network by

“following” related sites, agencies, organizations, local media outlets, partners, etc.

Establish links on unit Web sites

KEEP CONTENT FRESH

OK, but is anyone listening?

Include sharing options on Web pages to encourage social media users to spread your links around

Retweet relevant tweets from other sources

Participate in #FollowFridayInclude relevant @-links in tweets

Be patient! Like anything else, it takes time to build a following

Getting people to listen, continued

We can learn about our sites by seeing who’s talking about them

Social search also helps find related people and organizations for network-building

The Power of Search

It’s not breaking news that Mendenhall Glacier is awesome - but here we have direct visitor feedback

Everyone in @faythlevine’s network just heard about, and was linked to, a picture of the glacier

What people are saying, matters

A Grand Experiment

The use of social media platforms for natural resources interpretation and communication is an emerging field with few boundaries yet surveyed

Little to no detailed research has been done to determine best practices and quantify effectiveness, etc. (I hope to rectify that!)

So… don’t be afraid to try something new, because all of this is new, even for those of us who have been tweeting and Facebooking since the beginning

The possibilities are endless

Woodsy and Twitter: sharing an ecosystemQuestions? Comments? Brickbats?Thanks to Jeff Miller and the Student Conservation Association for making it possible for me to be here.