Imagine throwing a party by broadcasting it over an intercom system and trying to keep it hush-hush for the honored guest.
That's exactly what happened when the close-knit social media community in Orange County threw blogger and author Neal Schaffer, an advocate for transportation innovation, a surprise bash to launch his new book on LinkedIn. It was no easy task to keep a surprise on the cost-effective tools of social media that rely on transparency and openness for power to drive information to users.
After a short ruse, Schaffer arrived in awe to the warm wishes of 150 people.
If you live in Southern California, you know about the notoriously traffic-choked Riverside Freeway (SR-91) that connects Orange County and L.A. to the Inland Empire.
Relief is on the way for the 91 freeway withshovels hittingthe dirt tostart construction.
The Orange County Register's Social Sundays column included the 91 freeway's social media groundbreaking today.
Just days before the groundbreaking, the Orange County Transportation Authority(OCTA)created a new Twitter account–@91fwy– to provideinformation about Orange County’s largest stimulus project. It’sa constructionprojectto widennearly 6 miles of eastbound lanes– a chronic traffic bottleneck– on the Riverside FreewayfromAnaheim to Corona.
Tuesday’sgroundbreaking event was OCTA's first to utilize social media to share instant information via Twitter and Facebook. Orange County’ssavvysocial media practioners joined TV, radio and print journalists in covering thestart of construction for the freeway.
Orange County’s social media community provided live tweets of the groundbreaking by videotaping and conducting interviewsposting content as the event was happening.
Tweets from the eventreached more than 20,000 people withapproximately194,000 impressions or views. That’s a lot of eye balls onlinewithout the associated costs of traditionaladvertising.
In these times ofgreaterpublic accountability and transparency, social media is providing impressive cost-effective results for OCTA.The new@91fwy Twitter account comes directly from Fernando Chavarria, OCTA’s community relations officer, who provides the public with firsthand knowledge and up-to-the-minute construction updates. He will tweet the widening project’s progress– and its impact–so the public can be in-the-know before they go.
Most importantly,@91fwy will help enhance OCTA’s public involvement programto help uslistento the public and address questions and issues as they are posted.Social media along with traditional outreach strengthensOCTA’s ability tocommunicate withresidents,businesses, the traveling public and other stakeholdersto provide the information they need.
More than 5,000 people participated in the Treats in the Streets festival in Old Towne Orange. OCTA's safety team headed by @RailSafeSarah on Twitter decked out as a train engineer and shared with the youngsters safety tips for railroad crossings.
It's part of the Orange County Transportation Authority's rail safety program, the nation's first comprehensive program that involves rail safety devices at crossing and a public information program.
In addition to traditional treats, Sarah Swensson, OCTA's rail safety specialist, distributed items with important safety tips.
"It wasn't just a typical trick-or-treat evening of fun, but also included important safety reminders for children and their parents," Swensson said. "It was fun to see the kids' smiles and their costumes. But I especially liked the kids who matched my train engineer outfit."
Swensson and the OCTA team will make her next rail safety stop at Anaheim's spooktaculor event -- the Fall Festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 in downtown Anaheim at the Center Street Promenade.
Monday, Oct. 26 is an important day for Orange County, especially if you're one of the 80,000 people who rely on OCTA buses to get to school, work, doctors office, grocery store or other important destinations.
The OCTA board of directors is conducting public hearing at 9 a.m. to hear from the community on proposed strategies to reduce bus services to address the devastating impact of state budget cuts and dwindling sales tax revenues because of the economic recession.
This astonishing news story from CNN reminds us the importance of rail safety. That's why OCTA has undertaken a safety program throughout Orange County aimed at boosting public awareness of safety.
OCTA's Web site contains vital information about rail safety or you can get the latest update by following rail safety information specialist Sarah Swensson on Twitter.
Tell us what you think we should do to help promote safety in Orange County.
Approximately 90 people and 60 dogs participated in the Orange County Transportation Authority's annual service animal training to help calm the nerves of our four-legged friends and their human handlers with a bus ride that started in Fullerton, Calif. and ended with a fun-filled time at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif.
A special thanks to Pam Peters of the Garden Grove bus base for coordinating the training for Orange County's canines and their human friends.
OCTA media relations intern Elmira Karimzadeh, a Cal State Fullerton student, coordinated the news coverage for the high-paw event Saturday, Oct. 3 and captured the miles of smiles and constant tale wagging.
Leaders from Southern California joined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a news conference Friday, Oct. 2 at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to officially announce that the state submitted a $4.7 billion application for federal stimulus funds.
Californians approved a nearly $10-billion bond last November for a high-speed rail system that could connecting Southern California to the Bay Area and Sacramento. Gov. Schwarzenegger said California would match the federal grant "dollar for dollar." California's high-speed rail system would zip passengers from Anaheim to San Francisco in less than 3 hours. Experts concur that because of Orange County's early planning work, the Anaheim to Los Angeles segment of high-speed rail will be the first under construction. The line would take riders from Anaheim to Los Angeles in just 20 minutes, rather than the nearly 1-hour Metrolink train trip that my coworkers and I took to the news conference.
"We are one in California with one application and one commitment to high-speed rail," said Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a board director of the Orange County Transportation Authority and chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. "That's why we want you to join with us in making a commitment and encouraging those representatives that you know in the
federal government so they know that we stand as one in the state of California for the support high-speed rail. We need your support in delivering it."
That help and support came in immediately via new social media tools such
as Twitter. During the news conference, twitterers in Orange County shared messages with their followers.
"High speed rail in CA -- now is the time to start," tweeted Ross Teasely of Dana Point.
Diana Truong, a UC Irvine sophomore, forwarded the support message to her followers on Twitter.
The Orange County Business Council tweeted: "Let the media know your support for high-speed rail."
"Fellow Californians: Please show your support for California High Speed Rail!" exclaimed Newport Beach resident Neal Schaffer, an author of a new book on LinkedIn, to his 40,000 followers on Twitter.
The Costa Mesa Conference and Visitors Bureau shared an audio interview from the news conference to its 1,300 followers. "Hear what Anaheim and OCTA have planned for high-speed rail connecting Orange County with LA and SF," the bureau tweeted.
Within just 24 hours, the news conference and online community rally generated 100 tweets displaying Twitter's jaw-dropping power to reach 89,000 people with more than 180,000 impressions.
To learn how to share your support for California high-speed rail, visit http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov and http://www.octa.net/hsr or follow the latest on Twitter with the hashtag: #CAhsr or by following @CAhsr (the unofficial California high-speed rail blog but officially my favorite rail blog) and @CAhsra (the official Twitter account by the state's high-speed rail authority).
Or share your comments here. Do you think it's time to build high-speed rail? Or should other states get the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds?
California's high-speed rail system would zip passengers from Anaheim to San Francisco in less than 3 hours. Experts concur that because of Orange County's early planning work, the Anaheim to Los Angeles segment of high-speed rail will be the first under construction. The line would take riders from Anaheim to Los Angeles in just 20 minutes, rather than the nearly 1-hour Metrolink 
That help and support came in immediately via new social media tools such