Facebook, Twitter, Blogs! What to do?
Social Media for Public Involvement Workshop
Online video of the full 3.5-hour workshop and speaker presentations in PDF format.

This workshop, originally presented 2/19/10, is a joint presentation of the Oregon APA and the National Charrette Institute.

Social media is a powerful tool for planners to stay connected with the community at large. However, municipal and professional planners are just starting to embrace how sites such as Facebook and Twitter can advance civic engagement and affect public policy. How do you maximize social media and avoid unforeseen meltdowns?

The workshop will explore the following questions:

• How do you create and manage an outreach strategy using social media?
• How do you write for social media?
• What is appropriate content for social media messaging?
• Who monitors, maintains and manages social media online?

Session Activities

• Presentations from local Portland-Metro area cities describing the challenges and opportunities of applying social media tools at the municipal level.
• Survey of the national scene by the National Charrette Institute.
• Hands-on demonstration of the latest planning software allowing remote polling and data gathering using mobile phones and computers.