Using Social Media to Understand Planning Trends

Brittany Kubinski and Jennifer Evans-Cowley turn to twitter for a detailed analysis of the trends that emerged from this year's APA national conference, and for a comparison to last year's popular topics.

1 minute read

April 21, 2012, 11:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


In parsing the 2,962 tweets generated by 691 people commenting on the conference (triple the amount who tweeted about last year's conference in Boston), Kubinski and Evans-Cowley have developed a list of the hot topics of conversation, the most retweeted comments (Planetizen was number 1!), and key influencers.

Evans-Cowley summarizes their findings as such:

"My takeaway from the use of Twitter at the conference is that a significant number of people were able to use this medium to share and engage in conversations around planning topics that resonate with them. It provided a platform to engage in social conversations that helped people meet each other both on and off line. What more could we ask for from social media in a conference? I look forward to even more participation at the 2013 conference in Chicago."

Friday, April 20, 2012 in PlanningTech

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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