Pennsylvania Turnpike Joins Facebook

[PAHighways]

Not a week after PennDOT joins the other powerhouse of Social Networking, the Turnpike Commission has joined Facebook.  You can "Like" the Pennsylvania Turnpike at  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pennsylvania-Turnpike/119580304720921.

[Ian]

I miss "becoming a fan" of things.

[Scott5114]

I was about to say "What, you'd become a fan of PennDOT? What did they do that's so great all of a sudden, for you to be a fan of them?"

Then I reread your username

[Ian]

I was about to say "What, you'd become a fan of PennDOT? What did they do that's so great all of a sudden, for you to be a fan of them?"

Then I reread your username

I like PennDOT because it is the DOT from my home state. Even though they should get their act together to get things done, I do like their signage and how they use that symbol on the bottom of their signs.

[J N Winkler]

To be frank, I think many DOTs have been getting into social media (Twitter, Facebook, their own Web forums, etc.) without a clear and concrete idea of how to use them to advance their core mission.  I am not saying that they shouldn't, or that useful applications will not eventually emerge, but personally I wish more attention were paid to "back end" projects such as making construction plans 100% downloadable at the time of letting and also establishing comprehensive, publicly accessible as-built archives.

PennDOT, to its credit, has one down and one to go.  It is just such a shame that their lawyers are still trying to drive eighteen-wheelers through the RTKL exemptions.

[SSOWorld]

I believe many of these are a result of Facebook's extracting of personal information to automatically make pages recently.

[hbelkins]

To be frank, I think many DOTs have been getting into social media (Twitter, Facebook, their own Web forums, etc.) without a clear and concrete idea of how to use them to advance their core mission.  I am not saying that they shouldn't, or that useful applications will not eventually emerge, but personally I wish more attention were paid to "back end" projects such as making construction plans 100% downloadable at the time of letting and also establishing comprehensive, publicly accessible as-built archives.

If you survey the general public to find out whether what you propose is more important, or getting real-time updates on traffic delays or road closures or weather conditions, I'd venture to guess the latter will be the highest priority. As it should be.

[J N Winkler]

"511" facilities are already well developed.  The general public can't be expected to care about producer innovations like downloadable plans and as-built archives, even though they benefit indirectly from the efficiencies realized.