Transportation people are probably already aware of this, but staffers at all agencies are encouraged to check out the Rhode Island Department of Transportation press release about their use of online outreach and social media during the Flood of 2010.
The juicy bits: RIDOT’s web page saw a 40-fold increase in traffic at the height of the crisis, from about 2,000 hits per day to 80,000. The online info URL the Department distributed via Facebook and Twitter saw more than 8,000 hits.
From the release: Over the past week RIDOT’s Communications team updated the storm web page over 50 times. Public response has been overwhelmingly positive
with postings reading, “Thank you for all of your hard work, the whole
state appreciates it whether they say it or not!” and “Your tweets today
have been super helpful! And the road closure map is great. Thank you!”
with postings reading, “Thank you for all of your hard work, the whole
state appreciates it whether they say it or not!” and “Your tweets today
have been super helpful! And the road closure map is great. Thank you!”
Rhode Island’s population is about 1 million. To put this in perspective, a similar traffic surge to KDOT’s website would be a quarter of a million visitors. In Michigan (to grab a state at random) it would represent about 800,000 visitors.
This is excellent work. Kudos to RIDOT, and Bravo Zulu, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations!
Great stuff..