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RIDOT + Social Media = Info on Demand

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is expanding its reach into social media. Since the Department's first venture into the new media in 2009, RIDOT has used a variety of sites that provide real-time information that gives users what they want the instant they want it.

As the world of social media changes, so does the Department's outreach. Starting today, Tuesday, April 3, 2012, RIDOT will have boards up on a new social media site called Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows users to post images much like an electronic scrapbook. The Department will be using it to highlight and share images from its construction projects. The address is www.pinterest.com/RIDOTNews .

"RIDOT's Communications Department has become a national leader in transportation-related social media," said RIDOT's Director Michael P. Lewis. "This is especially true during crises such as the floods, blizzards, and other storms we have experienced over the last few years. Our social media sites were the go-to source of information and had huge spikes in user numbers."

As of last week RIDOT had close to 3,000 Twitter followers and nearly 620 Facebook fans. There have been more than 1.3 million views on the Department's Flickr page.

RIDOT's YouTube page is approaching 50,000 views. Podcasts and video clips are posted here as well as presentations on statewide construction projects.

RIDOT will be repurposing its Blogger site to reprint its Cars column from The Providence Journal. The transportation question and answer column will run in the newspaper on Sundays and will be posted on RIDOT's social media site on Mondays starting this coming week.

The Department will no longer be using its MySpace page. A notice to redirect the few remaining users on this site to other more frequently visited sites has been posted.

Additionally, RIDOT has created a mobile website that will allow smartphone users easier navigation to popular pages on RIDOT's main website. This address is www.dot.ri.gov/mobile.

The following is a list of all of the Department's social media addresses: Blogger www.ridotnews.blogspot.com Facebook www.facebook.com/RIDOTNews Flickr www.flickr.com/ridotnews Pinterest www.pinterest.com/RIDOTNews Twitter www.twitter.com/RIDOTnews YouTube www.youtube.com/RIDOTwebmaster

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Contact: Dana Alexander Nolfe 401-222-1362 x4450

Related links

  • Department or agency: Department of Transportation
  • Online: http://www.dot.ri.gov
  • Release date: 04-03-2012

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