Residents and their communities have reached a never-before-seen level of potential interaction, but how real is it? And does access to and involvement with social media make people more likely to participate in local government and community events (since they know more about what's going on)? Or less likely (since they know enough that they feel that they don't need to participate)? Or does it have no effect at all?
The MiCommunity Project seeks to determine the value of community investment (of money & human resources) in social media as a gateway to increased levels of community participation and increased levels of resident satisfaction.
This research is still in the planning stage. More to come. That said, if your organization would like to participate or become a sponsor of the research, please contact me.