Getting Social: Public Engagement and the Use of Digital Tools Workshop by Tracy Vaughan and Amanda Mitchell at the CIP Infuse 2013 Conference in Vancouver, BC.
The purpose of the workshop was to introduce how social media and online tools can be used in planning and public engagement. Drawing on case study examples from the City of Vancouver, a range of social media and online tools will be demonstrated and discussed.
2. The Day Ahead
• Intros
• Getting Started
• Group Exercise
• Lots of Tools
• Group Exercise
• Social Media
• Group Exercise
• Wrap up
3. 3
Who are we? What do we do?
12
Tracy
Vaughan
Amanda
Mitchell
Photo by Harold Simons
4. Vision
• Citizens, community groups,
organizations, and businesses
have the opportunity to
participate in decisions that
affect their lives.
Photo by Celia King
9. If you build it, they will come...
Myth
Photo by samuelnbarnett
10. If I go online, I don’t need very many resources
Myth
Photo by kadaltik
11. Not everyone is online, we would be leaving
seniors behind
Myth
Photo by krcla
12. Vancouver’s Digital Movement
12
81%
Vancouver’s mobile
penetration
Vancouver’s
tablet penetration
13%
80%
of Canadian
citizens surveyed
like the idea of
automatic
notifications about
government
services
3.9%
of B.C’s employed
population work at
Start-up companies.
Nearly a quarter of
Canadian internet users
engage in an online
discussion related to
government policies or
public issues, but not
necessarily on an official
government site.
People aged 55 and older are
now the fastest-growing
demographic of internet users
and now account for one in five
internet users, which is actually
more than people aged 10 to 24,
25 to 34, and 35 to 44 who
comprise 10, 18, and 18 percent
of internet users respectively.
(ComScore 2011)
40,000
new immigrants
enter B.C each year
Canadians say that
location based
notifications are most
used for road
construction,
weather, and traffic.
54%
of Canadians are
comfortable with
validating their identity
on line to protect their
information.
The consumerization of technology is driving both private and public
organizations to rethink the way they engage with their stakeholders
13. If I use online tools, I
don’t have to do in-
person events
Myth
Photo by Kurtis Stewa
14. If you want to
participate in your
pajamas, you can!
15. Getting buy in from the top
• Know why you want to use the tool – how
it will achieve your objectives
• Know the pros & cons about the tools
• Address potential concerns
• Find relevant case studies
• Treat it as a pilot
Photo by iheartcities
33. 40
Best practices
• Have clear questions
• Seed the conversation
• Be proactive on answering questions or
dispelling myths
• Keep the focus of the conversation on
track
• Have clear participant rules
• Use a tool that allows the participants to
self-regulate
69. Questions to ask when creating a
new social media account for an
engagement program
• What existing channels do you have?
• Who’s your audience?
• What are you calling it?
• How long is the engagement process?
• What happens after?
• How will you build an audience?
• Do you have the bandwidth to maintain?
72. • 1 to 2 posts a day, maximum!
• Don’t just talk about yourself
• Photos and videos are popular (repurpose
material from events)
• Use questions to start conversation
• Create Facebook events
• Encourage people to share posts, events
• Can purchase Facebook advertising
• Do NOT tie to twitter!
Facebook best practices
76. Twitter basics
• @name (Like an email address)
• # = hashtag (Similar to an email subject line)
• RT = retweet (Like forwarding an email)
77. • 1 posts a day at the bare minimum
• Don’t just talk about yourself
• Photos and videos are popular (repurpose
material from events)
• Use questions to start conversation
• Great to summarize an event
• Search people who are interested in your
topic
• Answer questions
Twitter best practices
78. • Use hashtags
• Talk like a human
• Shorten links
• Converse with people
• Follow and be followed
• Incorporate into events
Twitter best practices
84. Twitter Lexicon
• Twitter The platform
• Tweet A post on twitter. “Did you see
that tweet that @CIPInfuse sent?”
• Followers People who subscribe to your
posts
• Tweeps Slang for twitter followers
• DM Direct message. A private post
between you and a follower
84
86. • Meant to be used on a mobile. Perfect for
taking photos at events to build buzz
• Space out your posts
• Upload creative images and apply a filter
• Follow people
• Tag everything!
• Include a description and web links
• Cross-post to Twitter and Facebook
• Can use for photo contests
Instagram best practices
96. Your consultation summary
•Start with what you did
•Who you heard from
•What were the high level themes / did
different populations have different
views?
•What were the outliers/where was
there conflict
Share it!
Tracy Vaughan, in herrole as Public Engagement Manager with the City of Vancouver, is a best practices advisor to city staff and a community liaison. Sheholds a Masters in UrbanStudiesfrom Simon Fraser University and came to the City from the privatesectorafterseveralyears of focused engagement work as a sustaiabilityplannerwith HB Lanarc. Tracy’sworkfocuses on engagement as a foundationalelement of sustainability planning and building communitycapacity. She has workedcloselywithmunicipalities and senior governments in BC for the last eightyears. Tracy brings a wealth of professionalexperience in public engagement, includingexperiencewith an array of outreachtools and techniques, project and team management, strategic engagement design and implementation, and new media management. Amanda Mitchell is a Public Engagement Specialist at the City of Vancouver. She has a background in sustainability and a keen interest in the use of social media, online consultation tools, and creative engagement strategies to enhance community participation in land use planning decisions. Amanda managed the online engagement process to develop the Greenest City Action Plan and has been leading the City’s internal social media community of practice. Prior to working at the City, she was the Smart Growth on the Ground Outreach Coordinator at Smart Growth BC and a Researcher at the Design Centre for Sustainability at UBC. Amanda graduated from the University of Guelph with a B.Sc, in Environmental Science, and went on the complete a Masters of Advanced Studies in Architecture at UBC.
Everyone wants to immediately jump to tool selection, but that’s not appropriate.
You can’t select your tools until you know the objectives of your project.
Where along the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation does your project fit?It is important to identify the level of influence your participants have on the decision you are consulting about and from there be able to identify and articulate your promise to them. Knowing this first will help you find the right tool to fit your needs.See: http://iap2canada.ca/Default.aspx?pageId=1020549
Getting buy-in from the top to use online tools:Know why you want to use the tool – how it will achieve your objectives Know the pros & cons about the toolsAddress potential concernsFind relevant case studiesTreat it as a pilot
Six things to look for when choosing an online consultation tool (by Engagement HQ)Easy moderation & facilitation2. User-friendly interfaceMeaningful reportingContent analysisTechnical and strategic supportScalability
Best practice for online questionnaires
At the City of Vancouver we used Engagement HQ (or Bang the Table) for a variety of projects including our Transportation Plan, Budget consultation, and our Affordable Housing strategy but have moved away from that platform since.Pros ofEngagement HQit’s registration-based with simple email signup which means you can build an audience that you can contact and it requires people to take a bit more ownership of their commentsIt can be used as a mini project site that hosts not only your discussion but all your project informationIt also offers survey and polling toolsModeration tools allow you to monitor your community and also enables your users to flag inappropriate contentSupport service is very customized and they will even support your moderation needsHosted in CanadaCons ofEngagement HQThe reporting quality is not high, and is inconsistentCan be costlyWorks best if you focus content on the mini-site which means you can’t drive traffic to your own site if that is your goal
Shareabouts by OpenPlans is another crowdmapping platform that can be used by governments. The code is open source so requires customization to your own community. http://shareabouts-civicworks.dotcloud.com/page/about
Shareabouts has been used to ask for locations for public bike share systems
Mobile apps such as SeeClickFix and Citizens Connect also enable people to submit service requests to the City. When they spot something that requires maintenance, they can click a photo, tag it with a category and submit it to the map through the app. The app records the geolocation where the request was made and creates a service ticket in the City’s 3-1-1 system.In order for this to work, your city needs to have an Open 3-1-1 protocol.
Intro to social mediahttp://youtu.be/x0EnhXn5boM
In the digital and advertising landscape of today, it is difficult to get your message heard.
As people share your content, they help amplify your message to their friend’s and friend’s friends. This network effect helps your message spread.
As recent disasters have shown, social media is not trivial, but a real-time communications tool. Great way to answer questions, quell rumours, solicit information, organize volunteers, and send out official notices.
Social media is transparent. All of your posts are online to see how you react – or don’t – to comments.
If any of this makes you nervous, don’t worry. Here are some steps to take to help you ease into developing your own social media networks. Start by listening. Make sure you understand the nuances of the network, how it’s used and the audience before wading in.
You can put policy in place to govern expectations of your networks and the staff who run them. Remember, your staff can also be part of your amplification network. If they’re excited about something and posting it to their network, they are sharing your content with their friends.
Can even measure sentiment of tweets
FACEBOOKProsCommunity building and dialogueGreat to drive traffic to websiteKeep ppl informed of progress or eventConsCan be targeted by dissenters Hard to save conversationsNot everyone is there so know you are only reaching part of your audience and supplement with other tactics
Facebook best practices1 to 2 posts a day, maximum! Don’t just talk about yourself Photos and videos are popular (repurpose material from events)Use questions to start conversationCreate Facebook events Encourage people to share posts, eventsCan purchase Facebook advertising Do NOT tie to twitter!
You can have dialogue on facebook. This post by the Vancouver Police Department had 110 comments.
You can also see what is of interest to people. This post was shared over 90 times, garnishing over 200 likes. Which is really useful feedback. People in Vancouver like the parklet programs.
Twitter best practices1 posts a day at the bare minimum Don’t just talk about yourself Photos and videos are popular (repurpose material from events)Use questions to start conversationGreat to summarize an eventSearch people who are interested in your topicAnswer questions
Twitter best practices cont’dUse hashtagsTalk like a humanShorten linksConverse with peopleFollow and be followedIncorporate into events
During your events, make your hashtag prominent
FlickrA photo sharing tool
Instragram best practicesMeant to be used on a mobile. Perfect for taking photos at events to build buzz Space out your postsUpload creative images and apply a filterFollow peopleTag everything!Include a description and web linksCross-post to Twitter and FacebookCan use for photo contests
Flickr best practicesFollow peopleUse sets to organize photos after eventsTag everything!Include a description, hashtags and web links on every photoGeotag your photosEncourage people to add photos to a flickr pool
InstagramA geo-authenticated photo sharing tool
YouTubeA video sharing tool. This example shows how we used an event summary video toextend the reach of our in-person event.Pros of YouTubeInvites people to participate, provides context and enable you to post event summariesIncludes a description, hashtags and web links for each videoEnables you to share your videos, cross-post to other networksCons of YouTubeYouTube Ads are annoyingLimits to video lengthComments can be unproductive
Illustrated videos are great (this onewas translated into Punjabi and Cantonese). In this case the illustrative video work helped to easily explain the content in the draft Greenest City Action Plan and invited people to get involved.
PinterestA community bulletin board where you can “pin” content of interest from the web to “boards”. Used often to share ideas for crafts, weddings, home decorating, fashion, recipes. Like other social networks, you create a profile and can follow other people and be followed. Very visual medium. For a planning process, you could use Pinterest to organize photos of elements in a particular plan or examples from other communities. You could pin articles about the plan or photos from your engagement efforts.
Pinterest best practicesFollow people and be followedOrganize into boardsPin relevant photos and websitesAdd notes and hashtags
Improve how you promote your consultations and prove your doing it better by applying for Dave Meslin’s Dazzling Notice Award