Week 8B

I believe that some form of visuals work for every business using social media, including water districts. The nature of posting on social media is that the posts are brief; pictures really add a depth of understanding to a post. For example, if a water district were to post about a community event, it’s difficult to convey the general feel of the event. By adding a few pictures it really helps the reader to understand what the event was like.

Water districts have large amounts of infrastructure, AKA waterworks. Trying to explain waterworks in a post is pretty much impossible. Add a few pictures, and people can understand much better about what you are talking about.

San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA)

The SDCWA is a regional water wholesaler for San Diego County. They have an extensive online presence relatively speaking when compared to most water agencies. The visual social media that the SDCWA uses are Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter.

On Facebook, the SDCWA has about 8,000 followers. In general they post multiple times a day. They highlight education programs, infrastructure, and relevant news topics. On their posts, they are getting from 0-100 likes and rarely get comments, which is pretty typical for the industry as a whole.

Outside of pictures at events, news story photography, and pictures of their projects, the imagery they use is mostly stock images which tend to make their posts less engaging. Unfortunately, public agencies don’t have a budget for professional photography, but I think in some instances they could do a better job with the images they use. For example, they promote fixing leaks with stock photos of dripping faucets and showerheads. I think they could take photos showing of the leaks that they fix on their infrastructure and use those to promote fixing leaks.

They also post a few educational videos which they produce. I think the videos are well done and are effective in communicating a message to the public. Overall, I think the SDCWA does a good job with the limited resources that they have for imagery on their Facebook page

On Twitter the SDCWA has about 3,000 followers and gets about the same number of likes as their Facebook page. The use of visuals mirrors what is seen on their Facebook page.

Their YouTube channel has 250 subscribers and their different videos can get anywhere from about 20 views to over 35,000. The videos are well done and consist of educational videos, information on projects, and PSA’s. The videos that get the most views tend to be about the drought, which had captured the public’s interest at the time. I think that their YouTube channel has a lot of great information, but someone has to have the time to sit through the videos. I think that the SDCWA could post the videos on their Facebook and Twitter accounts to make them more accessible.

Their Flickr page has 11 followers. The photos they share depict the SDCWA’s public outreach events. I really liked the photos, but based on the number of followers it seems that the daily activities of government outreach staff are not that interesting. Really, I think their Flickr page is a way to share photos for the agency staff themselves rather than engaging the public.

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD)

MWD is the largest water district in the United States. The visual media sites it uses are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Like the SDCWA, MWD uses social media quite extensively compared to most water agencies.

MWD’s Facebook page has about 19,000 followers. They usually post a few times a week. The posts get anywhere from 0-100 likes and a handful of comments. MWD posts on educational events, PSA’s, and water supply information.

For an agency with the resources that MWD has, I am disappointed on the lack of visuals on their Facebook page. I think they could do a much better job collecting images from their service territory (all of southern California) to share. I did not find their page “engaging” more like a blog posting information. I do not feel their Facebook page is being used as effectively as it could be, and their visuals are sorely lacking.

Their Twitter page has about 3,300 followers and their posts get 0-100 likes. Their Twitter page has a lot more community outreach pictures than their Facebook page. It does a much better job of communicating the human element of their business than what is seen on their Facebook page.

 MWD’s YouTube page has 97 followers and a handful of videos. It’s obvious that they do not invest many resources in this platform. If it went away, no one would notice.

Their Instagram page has about 1,600 followers. MWD posts lots of community photos which seem to act as a repository rather than an effort to engage the public.

California Water Resources Control Board (State Board)

The State Board is a regulatory agency that deals with water quality, rights, and recently water supply issues within the state. The State Board has a Twitter account which has about 6,200 followers and depending on what’s going on in the state can post anywhere from a few times a week to a few time a day. They are lucky if anyone likes their posts. They do not use many visuals and when they do they are mostly infographics and maps.

I can’t think why anyone would follow this page unless they were in the water industry or the media. The information on their Twitter account does not lend itself to using a lot of visuals.  I would say that the maps and graphics they utilize are useful but hardly compelling.

Pure Water San Diego (Pure Water)

Pure Water is a City of San Diego program that aims to produce about 1/3 of the drinking water in San Diego by purifying wastewater.