Shields, Patricia M.Earl, Travon2017-05-162017-05-162017-05Earl, T. (2017). Capital Metro: Evaluating social media as a tool to improve community engagement. Masters of Public Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/6589An Applied Research Project Submitted to the Department of Political Science, Texas State University, in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Public Administration, Spring 2017.Purpose: The purpose of this research is to describe how Austin's Capital Metro uses social media to engage the public. Public engagement take the forms of inform, consult, collaborate, and empower. The integration and proper management of social media platforms is important for effective community engagement because it offers new ways for government to interact and receive feedback from citizens in hopes of making positive change within an agency. Methodology: The methodology used for this research is a case study. The methodology presents a framework that social media posts can be classified into one of four community engagement categories. After classification, the agency will be able to see and understand how the information they post is engaging the public. Findings: The results of the social media community engagement framework model showed there is limited use of social media to consult or collaborate with the public. There was no evidence that Capital Metro used social media to empower the public.Text75 pages1 file (.pdf)entransportationcommunity engagementfeedbacksocial mediainformcollaborateempowerconsultPublic AdministrationApplied Research Project