Public Media’s Social Media Experiments: Risk, Opportunity, Challenge

The Center for Social Media at American University, with The Public Radio Exchange (PRX), co-sponsored the release of the recent report and survey, “Public Media’s Social Media Experiments: Risk, Opportunity, Challenge.”

The executive summary reads,
Through a survey of U.S. public radio stations and case studies of four stations successfully using social media, this study provides a snapshot of the realities for U.S. public radio stations wanting to use social media to engage audiences. Results of a survey of 77 station staff, along with case studies of four stations’ social media projects, reveal ambivalence about social media.

With localism as a major tenet of public radio, the interactivity provided by online social tools seems a natural extension from the airwaves.  The case studies describe successful efforts like Minnewiki, Minnesota Public Radio’s guide to the local music scene, and KQED in San Francisco’s use of Flickr in driving their Community Gallery: Photo of the Day.

However, Berkman Fellow and PRX Executive Director Jake Shapiro writes on his blog that, “I do believe public radio can have a transformative role on the web, but it’s far from clear that it will seize the opportunity without some fundamental changes that go far beyond the current level of innovation.”

The full report is available over at The Center for Social Media.