How Social Listening Can Improve Your Daily Commute | A Smarter Planet Blog If you run over a pothole or perhaps a train is delayed on your morning commute, what do you do? It’s unlikely that you would pick up the phone to call the city to report it or attend a meeting on the topic being held by your local government.  The more likely scenario is that you would take to social media to mention the location of the pothole or express your frustration with the delay. Today’s citizens can be seen as engaged but in a very different manner.  Twitter, Facebook and other social channels serve as a 24/7 town hall meeting for an increasing number of us digitally connected citizens.  Social listening and analysis can be a valuable tool for cities.

How Social Listening Can Improve Your Daily Commute | A Smarter Planet Blog

If you run over a pothole or perhaps a train is delayed on your morning commute, what do you do? It’s unlikely that you would pick up the phone to call the city to report it or attend a meeting on the topic being held by your local government.  The more likely scenario is that you would take to social media to mention the location of the pothole or express your frustration with the delay.

Today’s citizens can be seen as engaged but in a very different manner.  Twitter, Facebook and other social channels serve as a 24/7 town hall meeting for an increasing number of us digitally connected citizens.  Social listening and analysis can be a valuable tool for cities.

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IBMers from the Toronto Innovation Centre are inviting non-profit agencies to participate in learning sessions this Thursday May 19th. Open Doors is designed to educate senior level non-profit professionals in the use of online tools to drive community and volunteer engagement. Expert IBMers will share their knowledge and skills in Social Media, Collaboration and User Experience consulting. Watch the sessions live on the IBM GBS Channel. Session 1: User Experience (9:00 to 10:00 am) Session 2: Social Media (10:15 to 11:15 am) Session 3: Collaboration (11:30 to 12:30 am)

IBMers from the Toronto Innovation Centre are inviting non-profit agencies to participate in learning sessions this Thursday May 19th.

Open Doors is designed to educate senior level non-profit professionals in the use of online tools to drive community and volunteer engagement. Expert IBMers will share their knowledge and skills in Social Media, Collaboration and User Experience consulting.

Watch the sessions live on the IBM GBS Channel.

Session 1: User Experience (9:00 to 10:00 am)

Session 2: Social Media (10:15 to 11:15 am)

Session 3: Collaboration (11:30 to 12:30 am)

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Digital Urbanisms: The overlap of social media and architecture in urban space

Here’s a great article from Metropolis Magazine (Here but Not Here, by Andrew Blum) that addresses the yet to be discovered overlap in architecture and social media. This overlap is precisely what my research in China is about - how the use of cellphones and computers changes people’s…

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5 Ways Cities Are Using Social Media to Reverse Economic Downturn | Mashable

The economic downturn has forced cities and states across the country to be more creative as they compete to attract companies and stimulate local economies. In just the past year, local economic development agencies have turned to social media tools and tactics to enhance their efforts nationally and locally.

According to a 2009 survey conducted by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and marketing agency Development Counsellors International (DCI), 57% of IEDC members surveyed said they were using social media tools. Of that, 63% had used them for less than a year. At the time, developers primarily focused their social media efforts on internal or regional uses, such as disseminating news and providing links to resources that support local businesses.LinkedInLinkedIn was the social network of choice.

What a difference a year makes. Since the survey, economic developers have expanded their social media repertoire. Looking beyond localized efforts, they are using blogs, TwitterTwitter, FacebookFacebook and YouTubeYouTube to attract and interact with site selectors and company decision makers nationally and globally.

Here are five ways cities and regions are using social media today.

(Read the rest on Mashable)

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smarterplanet: The Social Traffic Conundrum: An IBM vPanel Interactive Dialogue  Date: Wednesday, September 22, 4pm ET  Location:  The IBM New Intelligence Video Studio, http://www.livestream.com/newintelligence Description: For Social Media Week 2010 — taking place simultaneously across five cities,  IBM is bringing together four thought leaders from around the globe — via a webcam-based virtual panel — to discuss the challenge of urban traffic and how human behavior and social media can help remedy it .   Panelists: Shaun Abrahamson, Founder and CEO, Mutopo Naveen Lamba, Industry Leader, Smart Transportation, IBM Sarah Goodyear, Cities Editor, Grist.org Richard MacManus, Founder of ReadWriteWeb

smarterplanet:

The Social Traffic Conundrum: An IBM vPanel Interactive Dialogue 

Date: Wednesday, September 22, 4pm ET 

Location:  The IBM New Intelligence Video Studio, http://www.livestream.com/newintelligence

Description: For Social Media Week 2010 — taking place simultaneously across five cities,  IBM is bringing together four thought leaders from around the globe — via a webcam-based virtual panel — to discuss the challenge of urban traffic and how human behavior and social media can help remedy it .  

Panelists:

  • Shaun Abrahamson, Founder and CEO, Mutopo
  • Naveen Lamba, Industry Leader, Smart Transportation, IBM
  • Sarah Goodyear, Cities Editor, Grist.org
  • Richard MacManus, Founder of ReadWriteWeb

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Could Social Media Revolutionise the Planning System?

thisbigcity:

With social media services allowing people to tag the locations of the photos they’ve uploaded, check-in to shops, bars and parks online, and have geolocation attached to their tweets, it’s clear that online technologies and the city are becoming increasingly integrated, with no signs of this stopping. This data is accessible and is already being utilised by a variety of innovative applications, further suggesting that data, technology and the built environment will soon be fully intertwined.

We already have maps that show user generated photographs from the area, mobile applications showing local social media activity, and websites like fixmystreet.com that allow you to report issues with your city and monitor their progress as they are resolved. Technological progress is already changing the way we interact with the built environment.

Read More

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Best Small Cities to Live, According to CNNMoney & Gowalla We wrote before of “location as platform.” How much more rich can location-based apps make the mobile experience? CNNMoney and Gowalla are hoping, much. They’ve partnered to make Money’s yearly Best Places to Live list into a dynamic experience. Now, when Gowalla users check into a venue within a 25-mile radius of the list of Top 25 Best Places to Live, they will receive a notification. The Gowalla Best Places page features curated trips in a given area. When users complete one of these trips, by visiting all of the listed spots, they can add the Best Places Stamp to their Gowalla Passport. The top 10 places on this years list?  1. Eden Prairie, MN2. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD3. Newton, MA4. Bellevue, WA5. McKinney, TX6. Fort Collins, CO7. Overland Park, KS8. Fishers, IN9. Ames, IA10. Rogers, AR

Best Small Cities to Live, According to CNNMoney & Gowalla

We wrote before of “location as platform.” How much more rich can location-based apps make the mobile experience? CNNMoney and Gowalla are hoping, much. They’ve partnered to make Money’s yearly Best Places to Live list into a dynamic experience. Now, when Gowalla users check into a venue within a 25-mile radius of the list of Top 25 Best Places to Live, they will receive a notification. The Gowalla Best Places page features curated trips in a given area. When users complete one of these trips, by visiting all of the listed spots, they can add the Best Places Stamp to their Gowalla Passport. The top 10 places on this years list? 

1. Eden Prairie, MN
2. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
3. Newton, MA
4. Bellevue, WA
5. McKinney, TX
6. Fort Collins, CO
7. Overland Park, KS
8. Fishers, IN
9. Ames, IA
10. Rogers, AR

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