Microparticipation with Social Media for Community Engagement in Transportation Planning

Abstract

Transportation planning processes may be enhanced and plans improved by engaging the community through social media technologies. “Microparticipation” means the engagement of the public with social media methods for the purpose of maximizing the information going into a planning process while minimizing the plan's development time and the cost to the public. Twitter, Facebook, and other microparticipation media have been used for planning but have not been extensively evaluated for that purpose. This study examined more than 49,000 posts on Twitter and other social networking sites tracked by the Social Networking and Planning Project to determine public engagement in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan. With the use of a mixed methods approach, relevant posts were examined to determine sentiment, extent of engagement, and impact on the decision-making process. The study found methods that could be used to analyze microparticipation. The report concluded that microparticipation could be effective in generating participation but faced substantial technical, analytical, and communication barriers to influencing decision making.