Since 2010, the City of New York has relied on Hootsuite to connect with millions of New Yorkers on social media. Similar to most governments, the City wanted to be more engaged and transparent with its citizens during emergencies and city-wide events. They established NYC Digital as a part of NYC Mayoral Office, and this initiative quickly became the world's first city-focused digital strategy.

1. 1CASE STUDY: NYC BECOMES A DIGITAL CITY
CaseStudy:
NYCBecomes
aDigitalCity
Connecting a City on Digital
In 2010, the City of New York set out on a mission: to connect all
New Yorkers and become the world’s premier digital city. Like most
governments, large or small, they had big goals for citizen engagement,
access, open government, and industry growth. The City established NYC
Digital as part of NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment to start
building the world’s first city-focused digital strategy.
NYC Digital launched their Digital Roadmap in the spring of 2011. Having
an effective social media strategy was at the heart of the matter.
At the beginning of this project, approximately 25 million people a year
visited NYC’s 200+ digital channels. Those channels included its nyc.gov
website, mobile applications, and social media. Of the 25 million online
visitors, approximately 1.2 million individuals per month—or 30%—were
connecting with the City through social media.
“The way that New Yorkers communicate and
connect with one another is changing rapidly, and
for government to continue to be effective, it must
evolve in parallel.”
NYC 2013 Digital Roadmap
Curated 340 social
media channels
Increased digital reach
by 85%
Grew their social media
audience from 1.2
million to 3.7 million

2. 2CASE STUDY: NYC BECOMES A DIGITAL CITY
“To improve coordination,
the City issued an RFP
to select a social media
dashboard, and vendor
Hootsuite emerged as
the highest scoring
option. Thanks to the
implementation of social
media management tool
Hootsuite, agency social
media managers have
enhanced tools that allow
them to schedule content
publication, manage
constituent engagement
and analyze growth.”
NYC 2013 Digital Roadmap
What They Did
According to the Roadmap, NYC Digital’s ultimate goal was to create
a healthier civil society and stronger democracy through the use of
technology that engages, serves, and connects New Yorkers. They set
out to achieve the following objectives:
‹‹ Expand their digital reach through a consolidated approach to
social media
‹‹ Maintain a consistent voice, while at the same time decentralizing
communication to thousands of municipal departments and
agencies
‹‹ Provide access in multiple languages for a diverse multicultural
population
‹‹ Consolidate and provide consistent, accurate, and accessible
information in a state of emergency
‹‹ Leverage social media efforts from a simple broadcast mechanism
towards listening to, engaging with, and gaining valuable insights
from followers
At the outset, managing these social channels seemed like it could be
a demanding task. There was tremendous potential, however, to serve
citizens better and connect with their constituents more effectively. To
accomplish their objectives, NYC Digital relied on Hootsuite.
How They Did It
NYC Digital assembled teams from across its various agencies,
deployed the Hootsuite platform and assigned individual levels of
access, responsibility and authority for social media channels. This
enabled NYC Digital to start honing their strategy for responding to
public needs and providing the kind of information they wanted the
most.
City agencies started pulling together—collaborating, managing
messages, and developing social media protocols to serve the public
better. Then, when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, NYC Digital’s strategy
was put to the test. In a state of emergency, social media was a
powerful tool.

3. 3CASE STUDY: NYC BECOMES A DIGITAL CITY
Emergency Management - Case in Point
As one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history
struck the eastern seaboard, all the social media planning, protocols
and functionalities that had been set into place were fully engaged.
Under the worst circumstances imaginable, as flights were cancelled,
homes, schools and hospitals were evacuated, public transportation
was suspended, and the National Guard was deployed, New York City
agencies turned to social media to help achieve the following:
‹‹ Provide updates and assistance
‹‹ Organize and direct resources
‹‹ Control rumors before they got out of hand
‹‹ Collaborate and coordinate with other state and federal authorities
Throughout the storm, the city as a whole disseminated information
through their social media accounts using the same messaging to
reach a wider audience. Faced with severe power outages, the public
was able to receive text alerts on mobile devices from the Mayor’s
Office Twitter account, @nycmayorsoffice, which served as a critical
alternative resource for essential news and information.
NYC Digital monitored social media for public reactions to the storm,
sending daily reports to City Hall. As citizens turned to the City’s social
media channels for accurate and reliable information during those
critical moments, their social media reach expanded to over 2 million
people.
Better Information and Public Engagement
Since Hurricane Sandy, City agencies like the New York City Office
of Emergency Management (OEM) have continued to engage
constituents to provide critical information during both emergency
and non-emergency situations. During the winter storm of 2013
with its record-setting snowfalls, teams used the hashtag #nemo
to send and receive real-time information—posting photos of
the forecast and encouraging constituents to visit the PlowNYC
website to check the status of their roads. In March 2014, when two
apartment buildings collapsed in East Harlem, teams used the hashtag
#eastharlemexplosion—and translated messages into Spanish—as a
way to update citizens. Social media teams continue to use keywords,
photo searches, geo-location, and multiple language channels to
quickly identify and monitor critical public situations, dramatically
improving their situational awareness.
During non-emergency times, the City uses its social media channels
for proactive, engaging campaigns—such as a light-hearted poetry
competition on Twitter—to educate people about what the City does,
build connections between its agencies, establish an online meeting
point for citizens, and put a more human face on government.
“Because of the
shift to digital and
the rapid-fire way
information is
disseminated, the
use of social media
as a means to
communicate has
become a necessity.”
Allison Pennisi, Senior Communications
and New Media Specialist, New York City
Office of Emergency Management

4. 4CASE STUDY: NYC BECOMES A DIGITAL CITY
“The Hootsuite
platform is extremely
comprehensive
and has proved
invaluable in
emergency
situations. It’s been
our one-stop-shop
for everything
from message
management and
rumor control to
collaboration with
other agencies and
analytics to improve
our programs.”
Allison Pennisi, Senior Communications
and New Media Specialist, New York City
Office of Emergency Management
Results
NYC Digital continues to chart a course that builds on its impressive
initiatives and successes. Since the Digital Roadmap implementation in
2011, the City has:
‹‹ More than tripled their social media audiences, from 1.2 million
over 200 channels in 2011 to over 3.7 million across 340 channels
in 2013
‹‹ Established a two-way dialogue with the public during “blue skies”
periods when all is well and developed social media protocols to
manage emergency situations
‹‹ Developed a way to support greater civic engagement without
overwhelming the user, involving both public and government/
agency staff
‹‹ Increased the City’s total digital reach by 85%, sharing critical
information, emergency alerts, major announcements, and program
deadlines from dozens of agencies and programs