Online Civic Engagement Online Civic Engagement in the ‘Twitter’ Age:in the ‘Twitter’ Age:

Utilizing new media as a tool to promote participation and expand

democratic discourse

Greg ParksKatz & Associates

Presentation Goals

A little background research Types of new media Focus on Focus on Using new media to interface with in

person public participation A word of caution

Background

K&A commissioned study with SDSU Professor David Dozier

Community-based service learning project for Public Relations Research students

Conducted in November 2008– A snapshot in time, new media is

ever-changing

We Wanted to Learn…

What forms of new media people use in general

What forms of new media people use to participate in local public policy issues

The willingness of people to use various forms of new media to participate

What we learned

Broadband70%

Dial-up8%

No Internet access17%

Work only5%

Internet Access

14%

26%

27%

28%

42%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Read onlinediscussion bds

Have social mediaaccount

Read blogs

Complete onlinesurveys

View videosharing (YouTube)

What We Learned

Adoption of New Media

20%

21%

26%

43%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

People my agenot interested

People rudeonline

People use fakenames online

Must discussface-to-face

What We Learned

Barriers to Adoption of New Media

Research Conclusions

For those already involved:

– New media offers new forms of public participation

For those not that involved in traditional public participation (public meetings):

– New media provides other public participation options that they may use

Defining the Terms

New and Social media is digital or computerized forms of communication, like:– E-mail– Blogs– Social networking sites (Facebook,

Myspace)– Video sharing sites (YouTube)– Online surveys– Discussion boards– Twitter

K&A E-mail Blast

Portland: 40,000 daily viewers

You Tube

SFPUC is into it Big Time!

Focus on

Create and customize your own profile with pictures, videos, information

Post ‘status’ on your ‘wall’

Fan Pages

Public Profiles

What is ? Technical explanation: 140 characters, micro-blogging Platform

Over 6 million users and growing

Climbed from 22nd place social networking site in 2008 to 3rd place in 2009.

Your Profile

So what is REALLY going on?

Platform to connect

Build relationships

Share Information

Bite-sized; allows users to grab ideas, use the platform as a jumping off point

Example-Shaq Attack!

Shaquille O’Neal learned of trade to Cleveland Cavaliers last night via twitter.

@the_real_shaq "is it true u a CLEVELAND CAVALIER." @allonso "I didn't hear dat yet“ @the_real_shaq "U CLEVELAND BOUND shaq found out

he was traded thru twitter! .hahahaaaaaa" @djtr3y “I kno right”

Trending Topics

Searchable Terms

#hashtags for easier identification

Find what topics trending real time

Just during this presentation #1 topic switched from #iranelection to Michael Jackson

Examples-Distribute Information

Example-Real Life Connections!

Twitvite Tweetups

(meetup.com) Market events Fundraisers

So how can we start usingtwitter?

Popular programs to shrink urls for 140 character maximum: Tweetdeck.com; Hootsuite.com

Utilize the most popular forms of ‘new’ media to interface with twitter :– E-mails– Web sites – Blogs

Cautionary-’Hyper Factions’

But, Remember…

You have direct control over your message.

New media is still changing and will continue changing

Any given platform may not last forever

Think about your audience before you start using new media

Face to face will never go out of style