Angela's blog

Danah Boyd defines herself as an ethnographer. Most of us do not think of current day ethnographers existing (and if they did, how they would pay their mortgage?). Danah is a Social Media Researcher at Microsoft Research New England. She is in a unique position to research how youth use and view social media. I heard Danah speak at the 2010 Symposium on Youth and Social Media sponsored by the OSU Moritz College of Law.

Much of what Dana relayed was not a surprise but her depth of the issues was enlightening. For example, she discussed “replicability” of online information. We are all aware of how information online can be forwarded around but Dana relayed how, within the world of teenagers, the replicability makes it hard to determine what the original record is, for example it common for youth to forward an instant message, AFTER they change key words.

We are told to “know your audience” but when communicating online it is very difficult to speak to a specific population because we do not always know who our audience is. Dana defines this as collapsed contexts – The lack of spatial, social and temporal boundaries makes it difficult to maintain distinct social contexts. We used to be able to change how we speak to different audiences. When online our social contexts collide. Danah commented how a collapsed context usually only occurs offline when alcohol is involved.

This is a fascinating issue. Social media folks often talk about being genuine, being yourself. Are all of us exactly the same, always? Or do we change our behavior (sometimes slightly, sometimes intensely) depending upon to whom we are speaking?

Danah told a story of how a teenager said MySpace was for the black kids and Facebook was for the white kids. Danah was so stunned with the information that she rushed out to blog about it. She said she dealt with the information in a messy way, “which is how bloggers deal with it, not how academics do”.  Would she have phrased her response as such if she were talking to a room full of bloggers instead of a room full of academics? How many times have any of us felt the need to explain ourselves because a comment was misunderstood due to the listener not knowing the context of the comment?

Back to the content of her blog post, further research found the distinction between MySpace and Facebook to be less racially based and more class based. She noted the original creation of MySpace occured in LA while Facebook was created at Harvard. It makes sense that when Facebook opened up to teenagers, those first to head over would be those who know college students using the application.

Danah Boyd was incredibly impressive. Her research has gone beyond traditional surveys. She goes out and talks to kids about social media. She goes to the source. Impressive? Oh, yes! Am I jealous? Oh, yes!

If you have an option to hear from "expert" or hear from someone who deals with the same challenges as you do, what would you choose?

Because we believe we all learn more when we participate than when we are passive listeners, ShinyDoor and MORPC organized the Government Social Media Conference as an interactive event. 80 participants learned from each other, figured out which Ohio government agencies are doing what in regards to social media, and got to know each other.

The "got to know each other" piece is super important. The biggest issue we heard at the conference is needing to convince management of the value of social media. Government employees (regardless of being state, local, large or small) need real examples of other government agencies experimenting with social media and struggling with the same challenges (such as access to online applications, time requirements, public records laws, message control).

The participants did not paint a rosy social media picture. They painted a realistic picture. Multiple folks explained how they ended up experimenting with social media. The story told by Scott Varner of ODOT was particularly entertaining (and genuine!). He shared a Cleveland Plain Dealer article in which ODOT was hung out to dry for not using social media. After the article came out, Scott was inundated with friends, colleagues and the general public telling him to join the new digital world and offering to assist ODOT. Where are they now? Six months later? They have a 3C Passenger Rail Facebook Page promoting a passenger rail system and 6 regional Twitter accounts posting winter weather road conditions and a YouTube channel.

For us, holding an interactive conference meant going beyond Q&A. The day held only one panel of speakers and one powerpoint (which, btw, was created by the City of Dublin and is fabulous). The rest of the day included roundtable discussions (facilitated by social media practioners), a Facebook Face Off between Mid-Ohio Foodbank and COSI, an informal discussion of setting up Twitter at an event and Q&A with Sheriff Jones of Butler County via video.

Everything we did came with an explanation so as to be a learning experience for the attendees. After Sheriff Jones participated via ustream from a law enforcement conference in Washington DC, we explained the logistical details:

1. Sheriff Jones does not have a laptop with a webcam so a friend of mine (Mickey) who lives in DC met the sheriff at his hotel with a web cam enabled laptop.
2. The video with the sheriff streamed live (via ustream) so anyone could participate.
3. Mickey is a techie but the way we set it up did not require IT skills.
4. The ustream is super simple to set up. An account is needed but its free.
5. Anyone watching while the video streamed live could ask the sheriff questions.
6. We could have used Skype. We did not so that folks who wanted to participate but were not physically at the Government Social Media Conference could easily do so.
7. We meant to record the video. We forgot. :-)

Recurring themes we heard:

• Our IT does not understand and does not want to understand social media so we figure it out ourselves.
• We are blocked from using Facebook, Twitter and many other online applications.
• We had to get special permission to get a Blackberry.
• We've been working on a social media policy. For a long time.
• I wish my boss were here.

What did we hear near the end of the day? "What's next?, Will there be another event? Can I get a list of the attendees and their contact info?"

An email we received from Karen Fahy, Community Relations Specialist at the City of Grove City -
"Fantastic event today! We really learned a lot from the presentations as well as the communication we had with participants! Thank you for putting together a great conference." 

So, yes, we will hold additional avents and we will arrange a means for the participant to continue to talk to each other. Unfortunately since many government agencies block social networking tools, whatever communication we choose will need to be one allowed by government IT departments. We're thinking a listserv. I kid you not.

When I searched Facebook Pages created by and/or for Ohio cities, the most impressive Page I found was the City of Westerville.

Why is it so impressive?
Its engaging. The tone of the posts made by the City are friendly and welcoming (that is - they do not read like press releases). They read like a real person posted them, someone you'd like to chat with. Turns out, the primary admin of the City of Westerville Facebook Page is Christa Dickey, the City's Community Affairs Administrator (that is, she does PR). Yet she does not talk in PR speak on the Facebook Page. How can this be? Because she's smart. Her primary job is not social media but she did some research, used her PR savviness and came to the conclusion that a successful Facebook Page will engage current, past and potential residents.  Christa's posts are informative about the community itself, not just the city. This is important - she does not only post about trash pickup or city council meetings.

Why is the Page so active?
According to Christa its successful because the community of Westerville is engaged and active. Of course, that's her job to talk about how engaged and great the community is! From the outsider's viewpoint I'd say, yes, the community is active but its certainly easier to be engaged when the City asks your opinion, cares what you say and responds to you.

How do we know the Page is engaging?
Scroll through the City of Westerville Facebook Page and you will rarely find a post that does not have some thumbs up and or comments. All those replies are not made by the same 3 people. And, Christa replies when appropriate to posts by the Page's Fans.

What about negative posts?
Biggest concern I hear from government representatives regarding Facebook Pages is "What if we get a negative post???" According to Christa, the City of Westerville has had two negative posts. That's it? Yep.  One said Westerville has too many parks (oh, what a terrible problem) and the other was about the City's recycling program. She considers serious complaints posted to their FB Page an opportunity for customer service. She responded to both, engaged both individuals. She understands she will not win every battle and she is ok with that.

Christa's advice to municipalities setting up FB Pages:
Get the support of the city's management. The more they understand, the more supportive they will be.

Know of a municipality doing a great job with FB Pages? Please share! Would love to see it.

Twelve years past receiving my Master of Arts in Sociology, I can still recount how I have integrated specific ideas and philosophies into my professional and personal decision making.  All of which were learned from one professor.  Not only am I able to relate and use what I learned in my daily life, now that I am teaching social networking, I give great consideration to how I was taught.  I had multiple interesting professors I learned from during my academic career but one stands out because of what he taught and how he taught. 

All of the teaching I have done up to now has been in non-formal settings.  In January I begin academic teaching with an in-person class at Franklin University.  My in person teaching philosophy is to encourage the students to share their experiences, concerns and ideas on the topic at hand.  I believe students retain and more fully understand content when they are involved in the discussions and can relate the content to their unique situations.  Since my experience both as a learner and a teacher has occurred primarily in person (up to now - I am currently taking a Franklin University online class "Instructional Strategies to Facilitate Learning"), I am particularly concerned with finding and developing online teaching strategies that engage my students in a collaborative and authentic manner.

The literature I reviewed provided specific examples of why an engaging learning process benefits the learner and the research supporting such statement.  Lemke and Couglin (2009) assert teachers that incorporate participatory learning, authentic learning, and multimodal learning are both increasing the actual understanding that occurs and helping students develop real world skills.  I discovered many projects with public websites focused upon helping teachers develop collaborative curriculum and strategies.  One particularly useful list of these websites is in the Barnett article (2009). 

As do many students today, I appreciate content formatted within a table.  The Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (2009) created a table they titled Instructional Facilitation.  The table provides examples of low impact, moderate impact and high impact teaching methods for knowledge sources, learner centeredness, learning environment, outcomes supported, and assessment feedback.  The table helped me to realize the importance of adapting my teaching style based upon each unique class of students, including multiple types of constructive feedback, from myself and fellow students, and engaging students in activities that promote analysis, reflective thinking, creativity and authentic application. 

I expect my teaching philosophy and strategies will always be developing.  I expect I will learn from other instructors, my students, academic research and trial and error.  Just as the world around us does not stay the same, the learner is continually changing.  This is due in part to technology.  The Internet itself has changed learning in previously unimaginable ways.  Today we now recognize that new technologies will continue to change how we search for information, how we teach ourselves and how we participate in learning collaboratives.

Not all cities have rushed out to create Facebook Fan Pages. Some are timidly walking that direction while others are making a made dash away from Facebook and all things social media. Turns out avoiding Facebook simply opens up an opportunity for someone to create a Fan Page for the city. Someone in Cincinnati created a Fan Page entitled "Cincinnati" as a government Page. The Page has 15,911 fans. This is not a trivial number.  Who has the most posts on this Cincinnati Page? A Fan named Heidi Gray who posts job openings.

How about Columbus? Or Cleveland. One of the 3C cities must have Facebook Page. Nope. Who knows who created a Columbus Page as a government page. It currently has 6818 Fans. And again, some unknown person created a Cleveland Page. This person categorized the Page as a club. Want to guess the number of Fans? 36,329. What municipal PR department would not be thrilled to have easy access to 36,329 residents and potential visitors of their city?

The most social media savvy municipal representative I have come across so far is Christa Dickey, City of Westerville. She is convinced the activity on the Westerville Facebook Page is due to:

• The conversational tone of her posts.
• The engaging nature of Westerville residents.

If we go with the idea that the nature of the residents has anything to do with the interaction level on a city's Facebook Page, then Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus are missing an amazing opportunity. All three Pages have active Fans. Would they still be that active if the posts were more focused on trash collection, local festivals and construction updates? Maybe, maybe not. What the large numbers of active Fans in each city's Facebook Page tell us is that those cities have active Facebook users. Christa sees Westerville's Facebook Page as an opportunity to interact with the city's residents (past, present and future) AND an opportunity for customer service.

I searched Facebook for the largest cities in Ohio, the largest suburbs in Central Ohio and I threw in a few Appalachian cities just so that region was not left out. Of the 28 cities I searched, I found 5 cities with official city sponsored Facebook Fan Pages:

• Athens - 611 Fans
• Bexley - 1114 Fans
• Dublin - 86 Fans
• Dayton - 1,716 Fans
• Westerville - 2,378 Fans

The most impressive of the 5? Westerville. Why? Not because they have 2,378 Fans (in a city of 38,000 residents) but because their Fans are active. Christa does most of the posting on behalf of the City of Westerville. Fans comment on almost all of her posts. And its not the same 3 people!

Of the 28 cities, 5 had Fan Pages created by someone not representing the city.

• Bowling Green (categorized as a bar!) - 3,565 Fans
• Cincinnati - 15,911 Fans
• Cleveland - 36,329 Fans
• Columbus - 6,818 Fans
• Lorain - 1,357 Fans

The other 18 cities? No Fan Pages created by the cities or anyone else.

• Akron
• Canton
• Chillicothe
• Findlay
• Gahanna
• Hamilton
• Hilliard
• Lancaster
• Lima
• Mansfield
• Marion
• Mentor
• Portsmou
• Steubenville
• Springfield
• Toledo
• Warren
• Youngstown

I did check Facebook Groups. Groups are less functional than Pages. No cities had set up a Group. Non-municipal representatives had set up Groups but none were immensely active, which is a challenge with the structure of Groups.

Moral of the story? Facebook Fan Pages are an opportunity for municipalities. A common concern is the time required to keep a Facebook Page updated. According to Christa Dickey, City of Westerville, she of the most impressive city Facebook Page in Ohio, its a non-issue. Its minutes a day for her. She is posting items that naturally come up in her day. She reads through the comments and responds when necessary. For her, its another tool in her PR toolbox. Another means of interacting with the residents of Westerville. Another means of providing customor service.