dr. marcus messner (@ marcusmessner ) virginia commonwealth university

Tweet That Town! Tweet That Town! How to Turn the Twitter Lackluster How to Turn the Twitter Lackluster in Local Government into in Local Government into Vibrant Online Community BuildingVibrant Online Community Building

Dr. Marcus Messner (@marcusmessner)Virginia Commonwealth University

Corey Byers (@coreybyers)Culpeper County Sheriff's Office

Presentation at Virginia Government Communicators Fall Conference 2010

AgendaAgenda

Why Twitter?Study 1: Twitter and mediaStudy 2: Twitter and governments

Strategies

Why Twitter?Why Twitter? Survey of undergraduate 182 students at VCU (2010)

Why Twitter?Why Twitter?

Why Twitter?Why Twitter?See complete data at http://www.marcusmessner.com

• The audience uses it

• ALL media use it

Why Twitter?Why Twitter?

Study 1: Twitter and MediaStudy 1: Twitter and Media

Online social networks and social bookmarking allow traditional news media to increase Web traffic◦Promote news content (hyperlinks)◦Breaking news◦Build community

Goal of study was to explore the adoption rate of Twitter by traditional news media in the US


Social bookmarking◦Sample: Top 100 newspapers and top 100 TV

stations in the United States◦March 25-26, 2009

Twitter use◦Analysis of 180 newspapers and TV stations

with Twitter accounts◦April 4-5, 2009◦Analysis of tweets


How have traditional news media adopted social bookmarking for Twitter?◦199 news outlets

Rocky Mountain News ceased publication◦36.7% (n=73) offer social bookmarking for

Twitter ◦91% (n=181) have Twitter account

Ø 6993 followers


Is there a difference among traditional news media in their use of social bookmarking?◦ Twitter accounts

90.9% (n=90) of newspapers 91.0% (n=91) of TV stations

◦ Followers (Ø 6993 followers) 9.0% (n=18) 0 followers 26.1% (n=52) 1-500 followers 26.6% (n=53) 501-1000 followers 19.6% (n=39) 1001-2000 followers 16.6% (n=33) 2001-10,000 followers 2.0% (n=4) more than 10,000 followers

◦ CNN 677,325; NYT 411,820


How are traditional news media using Twitter?◦180 news outlets have accounts◦Only 65.6% (n=118) of the news outlets

tweeted on the days of analysis 1568 tweets Ø 8.7 daily tweets per news outlet


How are traditional news media using Twitter?◦94.3% (n=1478) of tweets were news related,

5.7% (n=90) were personal◦93% of tweets (n=1458) had hyperlinks

98.5% (n=1438) internal links

Is there a difference among traditional media in their use of Twitter?◦Tweets

(n=1029) by newspapers (Ø 10.4) (n=539) by TV stations (Ø 5.4)


Traditional news media do not use Twitter to its full potential◦Mainly used as a promotional tool

Extensive internal linking◦Little online community building◦Few followers on average

Newspapers are much more active than TV stations

Local Governments Local Governments and Twitter and Twitter

Study 2: Twitter and GovernmentsStudy 2: Twitter and Governments

• Local government websites were defined as the official website for a county, city or town in the Commonwealth of Virginia (self-governing at the local level)

• For this research project 95 counties, 39 cities and 55 towns were included for a total of 189 localities across the Commonwealth

• Google was used to find the official website for each locality


The main page for each locality’s website was examined to find a hyperlink to a Twitter feed. ◦Examples:

◦ In addition, the researchers looked at whether such a link existed on a “Contact Us” or “Media” page on the website.

◦ Twitter was also searched to determine whether or not an official account existed for the locality.

◦ Authenticity was determined by whether or not the Twitter account had a hyperlink back to the website.


The search was conducted on July 31 and Aug. 1, 2010

The following information was documented for each Twitter account:

◦ Number of followers◦ Number of “tweets” for the five previous business days◦ Type of “tweet”: events, employment opportunities,

emergency notifications, hyperlinks to news articles, links to other websites and “other.”

A total of 32 localities in Virginia had registered Twitter accounts for the local government.


Only 17 percent of localities in Virginia are using Twitter.

Counties had more accounts that cities and towns combined: 17 counties, 11 cities, 4 towns

Only 23 localities out of the 32 posted a noticeable link or hyperlink on the main page of the website to the Twitter.com account.

Only 1 locality posted a hyperlink to a Twitter account on a “contact us” or “social media” page.

Cities: 28% Counties: 18% Towns: 7%


How popular are the Twitter accounts?

Only 5 accounts in the state had more than 1,000 followers 11 accounts had between 100 and 999 followers The rest had fewer than 100 followers

How often do officials tweet?

The average number of tweets for a locality was 6 per week.

The number of tweets for an account for a week ranged from 0 to 38.


What did localities use Twitter accounts for?

Most tweets fell in the “other” category and included: Traffic updates,

Public meeting updates, General information about the locality Interactions with other Twitter users.

Tweets also included: Event notices

Links to other websites Public safety or law enforcement notifications


Other notes on Twitter research…

Counties were more likely to have a hyperlink to their Twitter account on the main web page

Counties had the most tweets during the two-day period

Tweets from one county in Virginia made up more than 10% of the total tweets by local governments for the week that was studied

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 had the most tweets posted

How can my locality use and promote Twitter?

StrategiesStrategies

Make your presence known

Not all localities posted a link to a Twitter account on the main page of their official websites. Part of cultivating Twitter accounts as an information source is letting people know that this service is available.

◦ HINT: Go to the website www.iconspedia.com for free Twitter icons that you can use on your website as a visual hyperlink to the account.

◦ Twitter users expect organizations to post a link to accounts and will look for a logo or hyperlink.


Make your locality’s Twitter account official Link back to your locality’s official website from the Twitter

account Use an official logo for your locality or department

Remember: This is part of your branding.


Set guidelines for the account

WHO: Determine who is the best person to manage the Twitter account (and other social media accounts). It may be a PIO, an elected official, an appointed official or someone else.

WHAT: Decide ahead of time what types of messages will be published.

◦ HINT: Stick to information that is public information. If you would not release it to the press, then don’t publish it on Twitter. Or, if you plan on releasing the information to the press, you could “break the news” on Twitter first.

◦ Do not treat this account as a personal account. This account represents the county government and should not be used by a staff member for personal reasons. Remember, everyone on the Internet can see what is posted.


What can Twitter be used for? What is it already used for….

Traffic updates Weather updates, including school or government office

closings. Emergency notifications Law enforcement notices County-wide events / fundraisers Live meeting updates Posting press releases Promoting services by linking back into the locality website Communicating with residents Job postings / internship opportunities


How to be successful with Twitter:

Determine your goals and investmentQuality over quantityDevelop a messageEngageMeasure the outcomeAdjust

Questions and DiscussionQuestions and Discussion

Dr. Marcus Messner (@marcusmessner)Virginia Commonwealth University

Corey Byers (@coreybyers)Culpeper County Sheriff's Office

Presentation at Virginia Government Communicators Fall Conference 2010

dr. marcus messner (@ marcusmessner ) virginia commonwealth university

Documents

twitter study

use of twitter

agendawhy twitter

twitter accountsapril

twitter useanalysis

twitter lackluster

twitter accounts90

twitter feed