Social media provide transit agencies with an unparalleled opportunity to connect with their customers. These connections may take many forms, but they all can help agencies personalize what can otherwise appear like a faceless bureaucracy. “Social media,” also called social networking or Web 2.0, refers to a group of web-based applications that encourage users to interact with one another. Examples include blogs, social and professional networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, micro-blogging site Twitter, media-sharing sites such as YouTube and Flickr, and location-based sites such as Foursquare. Transit agencies have begun to adopt these networking tools, and their reasons for doing so typically fall into five broad categories.• Timely updates–Social media enable agencies to share real-time service information and advisories with their riders; • Public information–Many transit organizations use social media to provide the public with information about services, fares, and long-range planning projects; • Citizen engagement–Transportation organizations are taking advantage of the inter-active aspects of social media to connect with their customers in an informal way.; • Employee recognition–Social networking can be an effective tool for recognizing current workers and recruiting new employees; and • Entertainment–Lastly, social media can be fun. Agencies often use social media to display a personal touch and to entertain their riders through songs, videos, and contests. This synthesis explores the use of social media among transit agencies and documents successful practices in the United States and Canada. Information was gathered through a literature review, an online survey, and case examples. Because the field of social media is still evolving, the literature review featured information from online sources, including blog posts, websites, conference presentations, and electronic journals and publications covering technology and governance. Thirty-nine transportation providers in the United States and Canada were invited to participate in an online survey. Only transit organizations known to use one or more social media platforms were asked to participate. Responses were received from 34 transit operators in the United States and Canada and one U.S. transportation management association, for a response rate of 90%. Based on survey results, six case examples were developed to describe innovative and successful practices in more detail. Case example inter-views were conducted by telephone. (Author/publisher) This report is available online at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_syn_99.pdf
Samenvatting