Connecting with

New MediaOakland County, Michigan

www.oakgov.com

Jim Taylor Sandy Jurektaylorj@oakgov.com jureks@oakgov.com

Awards and Recognition3rd Place in 2010, County Portal CategoryFrom the Center for Digital Government

First Place in 2009 Digital Counties Survey from the Center for Digital Government

• Why it’s important?• Communicating through multiple

channels• How can we use it? (Facebook)

New Media

New Media Trends Happen Fast

Years to Reach 50 Million Users

Radio – 38 yearsRadio – 38 years

TV – 13 yearsTV – 13 years

Internet – 4 yearsInternet – 4 years

iPod – 3 yearsiPod – 3 years

Facebook – 1 year200 million users

Facebook – 1 year200 million users

iPhone – 9 months1 Billion Apps

iPhone – 9 months1 Billion Apps

A new University of Michigan study finds mobile technology users are highly engaged in civic life.(Campbell et al., Journal of

Communication, Sept. 2010)

Smart Phones Change Everything

These are “likely voters” and their numbers are growing.

TREND: Mobile

97% of Adults own a cell phone or other web-ready

mobile device

By 2012, the total shipment of Smart Phones will exceedthe total shipment of Desktop

and Notebook PCs

By 2020 the mobile device will be the world’s PRIMARY

connection tool to the Internet

TREND: At Home

“Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.”

– socialnomics.net Twitter: 175 million registered

users

YouTube: the #2 search

engine in the world

LinkedIn: 85 million registered

users

Blogs: 200,000,000

currently exist

Facebook: tops Google for weekly traffic

Facebook: 1/2 Billion

active users

Social Networking: Connecting with people in their own networks…

Where are your fish?“If you are not involved, you are not being heard!”

Social Networking is about fishing where the fish are

• Two-way communication with audience rather than one-way, like broadcast or print media (interact)

• Connect and understand to what people want and find possible solutions (listen)

• Enhance PR capabilities (promote)• Share and discuss interesting stories/events (engage)• Build social capital and enable connections that can

encourage growth as well as help build community ties by creating a place to visit and interact online (maintain/grow)

Why use Social Media?

Benefits of Social Media

More Communication Channels & Broader Reach

• Blogs – Stories/online journal• Flickr – Photos/sharing• Facebook – Community/conversation• LinkedIn – Professional networking• Twitter – Micro stories/status• YouTube – Videos/sharing

Connecting Through Multiple Channels

• Engage citizens• Build community• Deliver better

services• Lower Costs• Promote and use

advanced technologies use

Smaller Budgets & Higher Expectations

Expectations

In 2009, Oakland County IT was asked to make $1.2 million in budget cuts

An Example: Cost Reduction

How did we do this?

x Management meeting behind closed doors?

x Reduce or eliminate services?

x Mass layoffs?

Collaborate to find a better way…

Cost Reduction/Investment Blog

Collaborative Cost Reduction

Generate new ideas &engage employees in constructive cost reduction

Employee suggestions produced

substantial savings

Cost Reduction/Investment Blog

How does it work?

ACT:Management approves or declines each 

idea

DISCUSS:Others 

comment on the  posted 

ideas

EVALUATE:Weekly review of ideas by management

SUGGEST:Employees post a new idea on the 

blog

SHARE:Management decisions are posted on the 

blog

TALLY:Running 

total of cost savings is posted on the blog

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Crowdsourcing

The Crowdsourcing Pilot Project was created throughan educational partnership with MSU

Successful project& beneficial new

citizen-centric service

Limited budget & resources Dedicated student team

Crowdsourcing

Public forum for engaging citizensin local government decisions

Oakland County will pose questions about: Government priorities Program development

And more

Citizens can: Respond to questions Make suggestions Post comments

Rank proposals by voting for the ideas they like best

Public input is used to shape the future of County government programs and services

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FacebookWhat is it: The world’s most popular

social network – a place where people create a profile, connect with friends, and share news

How can it be used:• Direct interaction with audience • In conjunction with press

releases, events or happenings that the public may find interesting (post links to articles, blogs or other new media with a comment or two)

• All posts and comments visible; people see each other’s comments and can interact with one another

NetVolunteers

Volunteers from the community Sharing an interest or role in

local government Facilitating online communities

around specific topics using Oakland County’s social networking programs

What is it? Why do it? Reduce support costs Invite and support citizen

engagement in local government Create new ways to solicit input

from the community Increase awareness and use of

local government programs and services

NetVolunteers

How does it work?

Provide initial training

Create volunteer rewards & incentives

Recruit & select 

volunteers

Identify program purpose & 

goals

Provide ongoing support

Conduct periodic program reviews

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1. Social Media Operating Procedures2. Best practices/standards 3. Leadership buy-in4. Communication5. Risk vs. reward6. Legal & personnel issues 7. Organizational culture (flexibility/agility)8. Training & support

Managing & Facilitating Social Media

• Enhance services & increase satisfaction

• Generate interest• Encourage interaction• Collaborate• Be transparent• Deliver information

and services the way people expect & want

Do…• Establish practices and/or policy• Gain leadership support• Integrate as day-to-day practice• Focus topics on popularity &

purpose• Empower people to maintain• Create partnerships• Use free/non-traditional resources• Be flexible/experiment and give it

time

Use Social Networking to…

Institutionalize Social Networking

Give them something

to talk about!

Maintain & Respond

Empower & Train/Support

Expand & Partner

Be Flexible & Learn

Embrace & Create

Standardize & Communicate

Don’t…• Set something up and never go

back• Think that no one is reading your

posts – be grammatically correct• Use only one resource – diversify• Think that you can ignore it

because it’s a fad or waste of time

• Hold people back in your organization who are willing to do it

• Ignore non-traditional resources, such as students, volunteers and members of your community

• Be afraid to experiment

Naysayers quotes:“That will never work!”

“The Internet is for ‘Techno Wienies.’”

“The numbers just aren’t there.”

“Where’s the proof?”

“Have you lost your marbles?”

“What a waste of time!”

Pitfalls!

Questions so far?

Wanna see more?

TwitterWhat is it: Sharing your micro

stories, status updates and comments to other Twitterers in 140 characters or less.

How can it be used:• Let people instantly know

when something is happening (emergencies, the start of a contest, status on registrations, events, etc.)

• Benefit from Re-Tweets; viral marketing approach

• Do it from anywhere from Smart Phone

• Potential rapid feedback

LinkedINWhat is it: A professional network

for business

How can it be used:• Keep in touch with current and

past co-workers• Create an online resume

w/recommendations• Recruitment and verification of

skills/history of work• Make new professional

connections • Create professional networking

events and connect with others currently in your field of work

• Find subject-area experts

FlickrWhat is it: Photo/image sharing –

the world’s most popular photo site

How can it be used:• Post photos of events,

speeches and other happenings

• Encourage the public to post their pictures of events to create a collection of photos for everyone to enjoy

• Helps provide visual interest and more insight

YouTubeWhat is it: Video hosting and sharing

How can it be used:• Provides a way for quickly 

distributing videos created at a public event or meeting

• Enables easy and quick insertion of video in a webpage

• Provides a way to make meetings (public), conferences, press events,  other meetings, etc. more visible

We are all in this together

Let’s Collaborate and Share

Sources & Statistics

Apple product news & usage statisticshttp://www.apple.com/hotnews/

comScore – market research & digital marketing intelligencehttp://www.comscore.com/

Facebook usage statisticshttp://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Grunwald Associates Kids’ Social Networking Studyhttp://www.grunwald.com/surveys/sn/index.php

Mashable Social Media Guidehttp://mashable.com/

Pew Internet & American Life Projecthttp://www.pewinternet.org/

Socialnomics Social Media Bloghttp://socialnomics.net/

Moreinfo…

http://www.oakgov.com/egov/presentations/