Social Media Metric Use in Smart City

Data or metrics are becoming an important urban resource in the city’s policy making. Social media as a platform that enables the analysis of geographic data also become an attractive region that city authorities refer to. Zook (2017) on the other hand, is on the fence with this idea. In his study he suggests city authorities to be cautious of the use of social media both as an input to the policy making and a medium of output in sending out information to the public. Social media data/metric have the potential problem of neglecting most of the view or users that could eventually be visible in how then city are developed. 

Geographic information from social media for instance, the data gathered may not informed us other non-geographic information such as context and description of why the location or data point is used by the user. In an example, traffic information may be used to improve road infrastructure without considering the safety for pedestrian or better design for walkability and connectivity of bicycle users. Therefore, being mindful of how the metric is used become critical to prevent the problem of Garbage In, Garbage Out of social media data, as well as more inclusive and comprehensive urban development.

Reference:

Zook, M. (2017). Crowd-sourcing the smart city: Using big geosocial media metrics in urban governance. Big Data & Society, 4(1), 2053951717694384.

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