Contributed by:  Tim Spear, GISP

In gathering research for this story, I encountered many different opinions of what Social Media means to people.  Children seem to be interested in what their friends are doing down the street, and utilize Facebook, Flickr or their smart phones to keep in touch.  Older people seem to endorse Social Media because it is making government more transparent, and may be aiding in keeping our politicians more accountable.  Science professionals within various disciplines have named many benefits and perhaps a few concerns that comprise the Social Media riptide we now find ourselves swimming in.  The Internet lists at least ten different definitions for the term.

From my selfish GIS perspective, I view Social Media as a blend of Internet and mobile-based applications and software tools that disseminate information through the growing "social- technical" interaction.  So how exactly does GIS inhabit a special place within Social Media?  To answer this question, let's examine some undeniable facts and some predicted Social Media trends.

There are now more than 550 million people on Facebook, with over 70% of the users residing outside the United States.  More than 30 billion pieces of content are shared each month.  The average user has over 130 friends, and over 300,000 users assist in translating the site through the translation application.  More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, and there are more than 200 million active users that utilize mobile devices.  As for the future, Ravit Lichtenberg from Ustrategy wrote an interesting article on the expected changes in Social Media for 2011.

Some of Lichtenberg's expected trends in Social Media include:  a huge surge of service providers, companies beginning to use the social engine to execute organizational objectives, more people interacting on smart phones and iPads than on personal computers, a drastic increase in online consumer video utilization and a transformation of the social network into a multitude of dynamic, engaging and easy-to-use community platforms.  So again I ask, where does GIS fit into this technical juggernaut?

Because GIS usually conveys information in a digital format, it fits in neatly with the contemporary media.  A vast number of websites now provide so much spatial and imagery related data, that even if someone does not know what GIS stands for, they are probably already using it in some capacity.  In some ways, GIS can be viewed as a category of media.  An excellent example of the GIS-Social Media connection can be found in a new research project named SensePlace2 from the Penn State GeoVISTA Center.  This research filters tweets on place-time attributes, and analyzes changing issues and social perspectives over time.  Matt Ball, author of "Social Media and GIS Connections with Place-Time Attributes," referred to the recent earthquake in Japan as an example of the SensePlace2 Project.  Ball pointed out that several days after the disaster in Japan, videos of the disaster remained as the prominent feature being viewed within the Social Media.  Ball stressed that what is really needed is a means to temporally filter out old data, and provide an up-to-date and timely exchange of place-based information.

Theory may be great, but how can GIS transform itself to better fit the Social Media revolution?  Making GIS data time sensitive has already paved the way.  Other ideas may include incorporating a social media component into agency or municipal websites to not only provide information to a growing audience, but to gather social feedback for the purpose of identifying and analyzing social trends or perceptions.  Jesse Gonzalez, Esri Account Manager for the State of Nevada, echoed this thought by stating, "GIS can be a great listening tool if the Social Media component is incorporated into Internet services.  People have involved GIS in Social Media by photographing potholes on their smart phones, and conveying this information to the proper city department."  Gonzalez also stated that Esri views Social Media as the largest trend regarding initiating citizen engagement.  He believes people are becoming so spatially aware, and already have so many Social Media tools at their disposal, that people are actually becoming the news instead of hearing the news.

Other ways GIS technology may take advantage of Social Media could include:  increasing the development of simpler and more desirable mobile device tools, creating better place-time graphics, partnering with non-traditional GIS communication businesses or social research entities, designing new Internet browser polling and/or feedback tools, enhancing visual interface components, and perhaps engaging in more social experimentation regarding social-technical interaction.

As Social Media continues to expand and touch the lives of more people, a potential negative component should be considered.  Society should consider that a more transparent government may also run hand-in-hand with a growing cultural transparency.  It is ultimately up to each of us to perform our own filtration techniques to define not only what we deem as important and worthy of conveyance, but what we value as sacred and private.