This document discusses the intersection of social media, public policy, and sustainability. It outlines four key properties of information flow in social media: reciprocity, durability, traceability, and scalability. It argues that putting the public back at the center of public policy requires enabling citizen participation in decision making through social media. However, the properties of how information spreads on social media must be considered. Government, civil society, and business often have differing values and goals, creating distrust that social media could help reduce through bidirectional interactions, durable content, and transparency. Elements like audience, issues, platforms, and lifecycles must be considered in social media campaigns related to public policy and sustainability.

1. Social Media in Public Policy and Sustainability Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega http://www.raulpacheco.org

2. Social network of the New Testament  http://www.esv.org/blog/2007/01/mapping-nt-social-networks/

5. The triangle of distrust Government Civil society Business Differences in values and strategic perceptions Differences in perception of objectives and accomplishment Differences in strategic objectives and goals Pacheco-Vega (2004, 2005, 2009)

6. So what does this mean for the intersection of social media and public policy (and sustainability) in the future? Source: My own analysis. Government -Civil Society - Business Reciprocity Privileging bi-directional interactions may help reduce distrust and enhance credibility. Durability Ensuring that the content posted is created with the idea of durability may help increase confidence amongst stakeholders in their relationship with government and business. Traceability Designing content with a view to enable citizens to re-trace where the content came from (increased accountability and transparency) Scalability Emphasizing the sensitive nature of some information flows and recognizing that information escalates

7. Elements to consider in the design and implementation of social media campaigns

8. Source: Pacheco-Vega (2009) Target audience & demographics Issue selection & galvanization mechanism Platform selection & deployment Life-cycle & stabilization DeSmogBlog Mainstream media & PR folks Global warming Blogs Short-medium term Earth Hour Canada General public Energy conservation Twitter and Facebook Short-term Vote for Environment.ca Average Canadian voters (>18 yrs old) Environment as an outcome of political decisions Twitter/blog & Facebook Very short term Save the Great Bear Forest Average Canadian folk Biodiversity conservation Flickr/Facebook/Twitter Medium term RaulPacheco.org Academics & general public Wastewater, public policy Twitter/blog –Facebook/Flickr Long term