The Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues is set to create a long-term plan of increasing their social media content and engagement abilities.
In a virtual public meeting Thursday, the Social Media and Communication Subcommittee of the Mayor’s Commission, or MCDI, decided to create more content for their Facebook page, while occasionally partnering with the city to increase the reach of promotion for important events or city-wide campaigns.
The MCDI provides input to the city on disability issues such as accessibility to city facilities, public transportation for people with disabilities, and more. MCDI is made up of 17 volunteer commissioners.
The reason that the commission and subcommittee acted to increase their social media engagement was to help make their messages more accessible during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Especially during COVID, since the end of February to the beginning of March, people aren’t able to go to specific centers and just collect that information so really they look at social media to be able to provide them with resources,” MCDI Chair Jessica Hipskin said.
Natalie Luna Jones, the communications and outreach director for Arizona Center for Disability Law, agrees that the ongoing pandemic makes it “even more imperative” for organizations to maintain a strong social media presence because it’s the main way people are hearing organizational messages. Plus, it provides a way for people to respond to organizations.
According to Hipskin, the commissioners formed the subcommittee to help create that presence on social media. The city does not run any of the MCDI’s social media accounts, Engagement Manager Matt Hamada said, and the commission decides what their social media presence entails.
With the subcommittee, Hipskin said, the commission can create social media more efficiently and increase its presence for its audiences.
“That’s something that I think our commission really struggled with in the past couple years is not just what is our purpose but how do we communicate that purpose out to the community,” said Nicole Anderson, the subcommittee’s chair. Anderson, along with commission members James Diebler and Jason Snead, serves on the subcommittee.
In the meeting Thursday, the subcommittee quickly decided their vision for the Facebook page. The plan is to increase awareness of how their account is a place for resources for the Phoenix disability community.
The resources it provides to the disability community includes events, current trends, and other information about the city.
Enhancing the Facebook account is also a way for the disabled community to better interact with the city. According to Jones, many disability communities, such as the deaf community, are active on social media.
“They post all the time,” Luna Jones said. “They let their community know what’s going on in terms of anything from legislation that would be concerning to the deaf community, to meetings, community events, movies that they know…”
The internet is becoming more accessible to the disabled community as it develops, according to the CEO of the Arizona Center for Disability Law, J.J Rico. That makes social media a good avenue for connection with people with disabilities even though social media posts aren’t legally required to meet the same accessibility standards as websites that provide goods and services.
While they discussed utilizing other social media platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter, the subcommittee members decided Facebook would fit their needs best and decided to prioritize making the Facebook page engaging rather than expanding to all platforms. Diebler also expressed that he felt making the MCDI Facebook page more attractive to users was a good priority.
“I think it’s great to kind of have that social media footprint out there that we are active; we do play a role in the community and we are making a difference,” Anderson said.
Moving forward, the subcommittee will look into the best practices for social media to create a strategic plan for MCDI, with the goal of having a plan that can sustain leadership changes. The subcommittee will also report their plan to the full commission for approval before implementing the new content on their Facebook page.
Contact the reporter at mcheshi3@asu.edu.
Correction: One instance of Natalie Luna Rose’s name was spelled incorrectly. This article was updated to correct the misspelling on Sept. 11, 2020.
