New Media Critique: The City of College Park

Amanda Chesser
Comm353 0101
Timothy Penn

Table of Contents
1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3. Recommendations/Critique of Organizational New Media Use
a. Executive Summary
b. Current Strategic New Media Landscape
c. Recommendations
i. PR Functions
ii. Publics
iii. Messages
iv. Platforms/Tools
v. Measurement
d. Conclusion
4. Appendix A: New Media Communication Audit
5. Appendix B: Blog Monitoring Report
6. Works Cited

New Media Recommendation/Critique: College Park

Introduction/ Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to deliver a diagnostic content
analysis of College Parks new media communication efforts, and to
provide recommendations to improve the citys effectiveness. In
addition to providing a comprehensive exploration of College Parks
current new media presence, this report will highlight publics,
channels, and PR functions that are relevant to the City of College
Parks strategic goals.
The City of College Park currently lacks strong external
communication and social engagement, which can be rectified through
the use of new media. Although the town has a centralized website
(www.collegeparkmd.gov) where it distributes information in a one-way
format, it lacks a consistent voice and strong presence on social
networking sites. By leveraging different new media channels, such as
Twitter, Facebook, Groupon and/or LivingSocial, the town of College
Park could advance the achievement of its strategic goals by delivering
relevant messaging to appropriate publics and strengthen its
community relations.

New Media Landscape

Currently, College Park utilizes many traditional communication

channels to disseminate information. This includes efforts like print
deliverables, bulletin boards and large public display signs. While these
channels may be effective at sending a message to the people of
College Park, they are not effective at engaging them in a two-way
conversation, or allowing the city to absorb constructive feedback,
which may be creating a barrier disabling the citys execution.
Because of recent growth in social media and the use of mobile
smartphones, it is becoming more important for organizations to
develop a presence online. However, it is especially important that
organizations, including the City of College Park, know which channels
to use to reach certain publics. This is important to ensure that
messages are crafted and customized to be relevant and interesting to
the publics who use those channels, which will improve the overall
effectiveness of the communication.
According to Pew Research, 76 percent of all adult Internet users
use at least one social networking site, which is a 16 percent increase
since 2010 (Pew Research, 2015). Over the past ten years, people of all
age groups are using social media more, however young adults, ages
18 to 29, are the most likely of all ages to use social media. It is also
noteworthy to point out that since 2010, the usage of social media
among those 65 and older has more than tripled (Pew Research, 2015).
Based on these trends, it is likely that social media usage will continue

to grow, and therefore add increasingly important business value to

organizations. By establishing a strong brand and presence on social
media now, the city of College Park will save time and money later,
and better position itself to adapt to technology developments down
the road.
These statistics are important to consider when examining the
city of College Park, Marylands demographics. According data from the
2012 U.S. Census Bureau, most people residing in College Park fall
between the ages of 15-24. Given that the city encompasses the
University of Maryland, and many of its young students, this is not
surprising. However, to successfully engage this large demographic,
the city needs to proactively distribute messaging online, because
according to the data, that is where this key public consumes media.

Recommendations
The following are recommendations that will enhance the citys
ability to effectively communicate with community members and
stakeholders.

PR Functions
New media can help College Park improve its community
relations by increasing the communitys awareness through proactive
messaging. It can be used to inform community members about

upcoming events, educate them on community issues, and showcase

achievements or new developments. It can also be a constructive
forum for community members to give feedback to the city of College
Park. In addition, new media can help improve the overall reputation of
College Park, and make it more appealing to residential and university
prospects.
Consumer relations can also be improved by adopting new
media. Businesses, especially those that are new, can use platforms
like Groupon and LivingSocial to offer deals or discounts, which will
help grow a customer base and loyalty. It may also help alleviate
miscommunication between local businesses with each other and with
city governance.
New media, especially Twitter and Facebook, can help the city of
College Park with crisis and issue management. The city can
improve the communitys sense of security and empower its members
to prepare for unexpected (or expected) occurrences. This can be
achieved by tweeting out updates regarding traffic, crime, natural
disasters and university events.
College Parks Government relations can be improved through
the adoption of new media by giving the city council a platform to
voice updates and news. This can include tweeting, posting on
Facebook, or sharing multimedia content about city council initiatives,
candidate platforms and upcoming elections. New media can serve as

a place for the council to test reception of proposed initiatives and to

involve more people in the political process who may not actively seek
offline involvement.
Publics
New media can help College Park reach primary publics, which
include university faculty and students, local businesses and town
residents. It may also help provide information to secondary publics
including, schools and community organizations. The intervening
publics relevant to any of College Parks new media efforts include
city council members, local activists and prominent members of the
University of Maryland community.
A few blogs currently exist that the city of College Park could
take leverage in its new media efforts. These include: UMDRightNow,
Shop College Park, Greater Greater Washington, Express, ReThink
College Park, The College Park Patch and the Diamondback online.
UMDRightNow, Shop College Park and the Diamondback may be
especially helpful to reach publics associated with the University of
Maryland, while other platforms like Greater Greater Washington and
Express may be greater to showcase the city as a whole to the larger
region.
College Park should especially utilize Twitter in its new media
development to communicate with publics, because its users actively
look to it as a source for content and happenings (Jackson, 2015). In

addition, the city could use Instagram to share pictures (especially to

younger publics) and Facebook to share multimedia and interact with
users. Groupon and LivingSocial are two platforms that local
businesses within College Park can use to promote deals and garner
new business.

Measurement
There are a variety of ways that the city can measure the
effectiveness of its new media adoption. On social media outlets like
Twitter and Facebook, the city can note any growth in its follower base.
In addition, the city can track public engagement through likes, shares,
posts, mentions and favorites. Metric-based analytical software, such
as Klout and Hootsuite, can also help the city track its social media
presence.
Another way the city can measure its progress is through
participation at city-related events. The city can track attendance at
local events like the farmers market and city council meetings. City
officials can also note any change in the amount of people who vote in
local elections.

Conclusion

The city of College Park can boost its presence and improve
community relations by setting up an official Facebook and Twitter
account, and using these accounts to post news about the city. Twitter
will be especially helpful given the speed of its updates, which will
allow users to stay updated with local events as they happen. To gain a
follower base on these sites, the town can integrate promotions for its
social media accounts on its existing website. Examples of this, taken
from the similar college towns of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and
Boulder, Colorado, are below.

a.

Appendix A:
College Park New Media Audit
The city of College Park currently has a solid, yet outdated,
centralized website, but lacks a strong new media presence. Most of
College Parks communication efforts are not consistently streamlined,
and lack consistent branding, which impedes the effectiveness of the
citys efforts and makes its key publics question the legitimacy of each
active outreach. It appears that the city has prioritized traditional
communication channels, such as print deliverables, bulletin boards
and billboard signs in the past to share information with publics, rather
than opting for digital outreach. The city can further optimize the
effectiveness of its communication by utilizing one-way and two-way
new media channels to engage a broader girth of key publics to further
its strategic initiatives.
According to new initiatives approved by the city council in
August of 2015, the city of College Park set the following strategic plan
goals for 2015-2020 to become a prosperous top 20 college town:

One College Park

Environmental Sustainability
High Quality Development and Reinvestment
Quality Infrastructure
Effective Leadership
Excellent Services

The citys success of these goals is dependent on its ability to reach

and facilitate positive interactions among key publics, which include:

College Park residents

University of Maryland students, faculty and staff
College Park employees
College Park employers

The city hopes to engage these publics on issues related to

homeownership, sustainability, government, collaboration and fiscal
responsibility. However, thus far, the city has taken a passive approach
to engaging these publics. Most of the information disseminated,
online especially, is a one-way push communications, and does not
provide the opportunity for the city to solicit feedback from these
publics. In fact, even when actively searching for information relating
to the city, let alone its strategic initiatives, it was difficult to find
anything online at all.
Other than the citys website, www.collegeparkmd.gov, there is little
to no official information disseminated about the town. There is no
official College Park twitter account or official Instagram account (only
a geolocation preprogrammed by the app). There is an official
Facebook account, an unofficial Humans of College Park account, and
a weak College Park Patch account. All of these avenues have different
branding, and lack a consistent logo, username or associated hashtag,
which call into question the legitimacy, credibility and ownership of the
accounts. Posting on all of these was infrequent, and received little to
no responding engagement.

Additional sources of information regarding the city of College Park

were found from websites and blogs associated with campus life
written from a third-party perspective. These include the University of
Marylands independently run student newspaper, The Diamondback,
HerCampus, UMDRightNow, and occasional article placements or
mentions in local media such as the Washington Post or Express. The
website/blog ShopCollegePark.org offers the most information about
local events and changes, however it is difficult to tell if the site is
associated with the city officially. Most coverage on these sites was in
the form of commentary or news regarding the town, events, city
governance, or new upcoming infrastructural changes. There is also
RethinkCollegePark.com, which seemed advantageous to facilitate the
citys 2015-2020 goal, but the site has not been updated since
September of 2014, and only offers outdated information.
These few channels appear to primarily target a younger audience,
arguably comprised of students, young alumni and millennials. The city
does a poor job of engaging older residents, homeowners, city activists
and local businesses using new media, and has yet to establish one
clear voice. These factors can all be used to help inform and guide a
strategic new media communication plan to strengthen the city of
College Parks relationship with key publics, and aid in the achievement
of reaching its goals.

Appendix B:
Blog Monitoring Report

Purpose:
It is necessary to monitor the online conversation surrounding
the city of College Park to understand the content and favorability of
what people are saying about the town. By assessing and analyzing the
discussion surrounding College Park, the city can pinpoint areas for
improvement and devise the necessary steps and take action to fix
them. In addition, the blog may highlight issues related to the town
that people are concerned about, and help the town identify key
influencers who may also partake in the blogs discussion.

Methodology:
In addition to monitoring the official College Park website, my
research consisted of a qualitative content monitoring of five blogs:
(1)UMDRightnow.com, (2) Rethinkcollegepark.net/blog, (3) College Park
Patch, (4) UMD Diamondback and (5) The Washington Post. I selected
these blogs after doing a preliminary Google search of the news and
blogs related to College Park, and then selected these ones because
they are the most relevant. I determined credibility based on the
followership of the blogs, the overall newsworthiness of the content,
and the contributing writers.

Results:
After monitoring the sites, I derived the following information about
College Park:

Governance
o The city of College Park announces public notices and
provides information about town meetings and upcoming
voting events on its official website.
o The Diamondback often provides news-angled articles that
highlight key takeaways from public meetings or official
statements. The Diamondback offers comment sections on
these articles where students can provide feedback,
however very few students or city residents actually use
this forum to discuss their reactions to the happenings of
College Park.
o On another note, I found that of the few articles that exist
about College Park, many focus on negative safety aspects
of the town. This could be highlighted for the city as a point
for improvement, which after being successfully rectified
could be highlighted for recognition on College Parks social

media accounts.
Economic/Business
o College Park is currently in the transition of redevelopment
and is undergoing many exciting infrastructural changes.

This was one of the heavily covered topics related to the

City of College Park, garnered positive media coverage.
Positive coverage was featured on sites such as The
Diamondback, The Washington Post and UMDRightNow.
Rethink College Park has published positive news coverage
about infrastructural and business development as well,
but has not been updated since September 2014.
o The Diamondback especially featured articles on new
eateries and housing facilities in College Park, and may be
useful for the city to leverage public opinion on social

media when debating future economic ventures.

Education (University of Maryland)
o The Diamondback and UMDRightNow were the best
sources of information about events and ongoing news

related to the school.

Current Events
o College Park Patch and Diamondback were the most useful
at highlighting events or festivals taking place in the city.

Conclusion
While all of these blogs are useful in communicating direct
information to the public, they are currently being used primarily as a
one-way form of communication. The sites do not engage the key
publics, or have a utilized platform for publics to voice their thoughts
about any news related to College Park.

After monitoring these blogs, I recommend that the City of

College Park tap into these informational sources through engagement
on social media. By highlighting the citys positive media coverage, it
can improve residential awareness of exciting changes and
consequentially improve its overall public perception. In addition, it
could also aid local businesses and residents serving as a
communication bridge to reach the public with information on things
like promotions, traffic updates or events. These blogs, are currently
underutilized by the city, and could be leveraged by the City to provide
a mutual advantage for the city and its key publics.
Although College Park does have a solid website, by adopting
new media and establishing a strong brand presence online, it can
improve relations with key publics by initiating two-way conversations.

Appendix: Chart
Blog Name
UMDRightno
w.com

Rethinkcolle
gepark.net/b
log

Author
Multiple

Multiple;
edited by
David
Daddio

Source credibility
University
sponsored
news page
Features
UMD
Experts
on topics
such as
business
and
politics,
science
and
engineerin
g, etc.

College Park
Patch

Multiple

UMD

Multiple

The site
garners an
average
200
readers per
day

Not super
credible
because
authors
have to
submit
their
stories for
approval
Independe

Comments
Includes
coverage on
topics such as
latest news,
innovation
@UMD,
athletics, and
academic
experts

Doesnt seem
like it has been
updated since
2014.
The site mostly
covers
development
projects

Many feature
stories, and
recent news
events

Prominently

Impact
Credible,
university
backed
publication
Main source for
University
Communications

It has been
mentioned in the
Washington Post,
The
Diamondback
and The Gazette.
If updated, it
could help
residents and
students
understand the
changes
occurring in CP,
and what to
expect.
One of the only
places to see
ongoing
community news
outside of UMCP.

Local businesses

Diamondbac
k

Washington
Post

Multiple

nt studentrun
campus
newspaper
Has a print
circulation
of 9,000
since 1909

recognized in all
of CP among
both students
and residents.

Major
national
news outlet

Offers
regional,
world, and
national
news

can advertise,
provide specials,
and give
coupons.
Local housing
guide
Local businesses
can have
features: food,
music, movies,
student life
Has an express
version for the
metro area
Express would be
an excellent
place to
advertise or get
coverage about
new additions to
CP

Works Cited
College Park Demographics Profile. (2012). Retrieved December 18,
2015
Jackson, D. (2015, September 15). Facebook vs. Twitter: Which Is Best
for Your Brand | Sprout Social. Retrieved December 17, 2015