Talking Michigan Transportation

Meet the patient, witty and always engaged MDOT social media administrator

October 13, 2021 Michigan Department of Transportation Season 3 Episode 76
Talking Michigan Transportation
Meet the patient, witty and always engaged MDOT social media administrator
Show Notes Transcript

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Jesse Ball, who coordinates social media at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). 

Ball talks about his background, growing up in the Upper Peninsula, graduating from Michigan State University, then working in California and Michigan media markets. In 2008, he became MDOT’s first social media administrator.  

Understanding that without engagement, social media is just media, Ball talks about the importance of connecting and going beyond one-way communication. 

The department’s Office of Communication puts an emphasis on transparency and sharing information for people to understand often complex transportation challenges. Ball explains the satisfaction he draws from correcting misinformation and providing fact-based answers. 

Because transportation touches everyone’s life everyday with so much work being done in plain sight, it is to be expected that people will have many questions and comments. Ball talks about working with people across the department - Planning, Finance, engineers in Transportation Service Centers across the state - to gather accurate and timely responses to myriad questions. 

He also explains his random Van Halen reference in a recent Facebook conversation.

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Jeff Cranson: Hello. This is the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast. I'm Jeff Cranson, director of communications at the Michigan Department of Transportation.

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Cranson: This week, I’m talking with Jesse Ball, MDOT's social media coordinator, whose mix of just-the-facts answers with a touch of humor and mostly, respect helps the department stay engaged on myriad questions that come our way each day.

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Cranson: Jesse, thanks for taking time to do this and talk about MDOT's social media presence.

Jesse Ball: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me on.

Cranson: So, let's start with you and just a little bit of background on where you grew up, in a sleepy Upper Peninsula community, and college and, you know, career before you came to MDOT.

Ball: Yeah, I grew up in the U.P. in a pretty small town called Trout Lake, which is about 30 miles from the Mackinac Bridge. Interestingly enough, my dad worked for the Chippewa County Road Commission growing up. He worked out of the Trout Lake garage and lots of winters where he had to basically be out all-night plowing. And all that work and overtime actually helped put me through college. I went to Michigan State in the mid to late 90s, and I ended up with a background in film and television. I actually went to film school out in California at a university called Chapman University. And after about five years living out in California, I had enough of that and moved back to Michigan. A friend of mine worked in Traverse City at one of the TV stations up there, and I got to work in traverse city for a couple years, which was great. And I found my way back in Lansing working at a TV station. And that was when things were kind of changing from analog to digital, and all of a sudden, the social media thing started popping up. A friend of mine that I worked with at the Lansing station told me about the position at MDOT. He had actually interned at MDOT in the Office of Communications and knew a few people there. He was really familiar with it and pointed me in that direction, and I ended up getting the job. This was late 2008 just when Facebook and Twitter were really going mainstream, and the department was looking for somebody to start dabbling in social media. So, that was, you know, kind of how I got my job and that and just kind of hit the ground running. It was new to me, new to everybody else, but the way that I looked at it was it made it easier for me to help people who had questions about MDOT and things that were going on because I didn't know everything, so I was learning along with them. And it gave me an opportunity to ask questions of engineers and other people in the department about, you know, what they did. And I think that actually makes me a better person on social media for MDOT that I don't know everything, so I’m constantly looking for help from everybody else and thankfully, everybody provides it. So, you know, I’m very much an advocate for all of our followers, and it's really worked out that way.

Cranson: Yeah, you can't overstate, I think, the incredible responsiveness, whether it's our people in the Bureau of Planning or Bureau of Finance or the various engineering people in a couple of different bureaus, whether it's construction or it's designing projects, they're all great about getting all of us the information that we need both for the media and for the public. I think, you know, in my days as a newspaper editor with social media, I always felt like you're supposed to engage, you should engage, but it's often like you're fighting guerrilla warfare because they know who are, you know, you’re identified and, you know, who you work for is clearly identified, yet the people you're dealing with could have fake profiles, could have fake names. You're marching in a straight line, and they're shooting from behind rocks and trees and bushes. So, how do you feel about that? What gives you the patience to stay with these threads when people can be so belligerent and sometimes just want to snipe, really, and they're really not looking for, you know, facts or information?

Ball: Yeah, you know, the way I kind of look at it is for every person who clearly has an agenda or just doesn't like MDOT, as far as I’m concerned--and there's nothing scientific to back this up other than some feedback, I’ve gotten--you know, for every one of those people, there's about 15, 20, or more people who are just kind of on the sidelines reading along in the threads that we have. And we're told from time to time that, you know, these people really appreciate the information that we're sharing, and that's kind of the way I look at it. I’m not looking at it as I’m going back and forth with somebody who clearly just wants to argue. I’m not arguing with them. I’m having the conversation with them for the benefit of all the people who are just following along and don't really want to, you know, jump in, but they just want to learn and find out some of the information. And a lot of times, a lot of the questions we get are very repetitive because a lot of people have the same questions, the same misconceptions about the department. So, you know, I find myself having to give the same answer a lot, which in some ways it makes my job easier, but in other ways it does get a little crazy that, you know, I’m answering the same questions all the time. But I have to remember not every single person is on our page every day like I am, so while it's kind of monotonous and repetitive for me, for a lot of people they're just getting the information for the first time. And fortunately, there have been times where in talking with some of these folks who came in with a negative attitude about MDOT, at the very least, sometimes I get their respect that, you know, I keep at it, and I provide them the information no matter how snarky or angry they get. It's just all about just trying to help them and provide them with that information, and sometimes we do turn critics into fans. It's happened a few times, and that's a good feeling.

Cranson: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, some of the comments make it all worthwhile, and I’m glad that you share some of those with us so that we know that there are people out there that appreciate what you're doing enough to show us. I think one of the things that, you know, the reason that we feel this is important, obviously, is because without engagement social media would just be media, right? There would be no social, and it's really important that it's not a one-way thing. It’s important that we have this answer and that we show them that there's a real human being here taking your questions and answering them. But given what has been exposed about Facebook recently and what we know about it, I think really what you're doing is what a lot of critics would say Facebook should be doing, and that's, you know, monitoring pages for misinformation and setting the record straight with facts. And they would say, “Well, we don't have the resources to do that.” And maybe that's true, but then maybe you shouldn't, you know, allow the wild, wild west on your platform. But we can't walk away and abandon it like some people have, you know, with their personal pages. We have to maintain this page. It's become a major source of engagement for the public across Michigan and even other states. In fact, speaking of those compliments, I think I shared with you one I got from a friend of mine in Arizona a couple weeks ago who happened to be looking at our page and just paid you incredible kudos for the job you do in the responsiveness. But at what point do you decide sometimes, “Okay, I’ve given this person everything I can, and I got to move on?”

Ball: Yeah, you know, if it gets to be two or three days then that's a little long. A lot of it has to do with anything else, just time and resources. I’m also the proofreader for the department, so some days I have more time than others to really engage back and forth with folks. If I’m just too busy with proofing, you know, I got to get that done first. But, you know, like I said, it's not so much as just feeding this back and forth. A lot of people say, “Don't feed the trolls,” but, you know, if somebody is going to be consistently posting incorrect information, I’m going to share the correct information. And, you know, it does get frustrating that you do have some folks who clearly have an axe to grind, and they just don't want to drop it. But the way I look at it is sometimes these threads get so long, you know, even if I have addressed some of the incorrect information that's been posted, it gets lost in those threads and a lot of people just don't read through it all. So, I feel that, you know, I have an obligation to kind of, you know, bump the threat up, so to speak, with the facts. And, you know, eventually, what's great about some of our followers is they jump into our defense and kind of help quell the madness sometimes, as it were. You know—

Cranson: Yeah, yeah.

Ball: Last week, we had a thread were a lot, like you said, a lot of people were jumping to our defense. A lot of people were complimenting the way that we were handling people, and it is interesting how those folks really help out sometimes.

Cranson: Yeah, and I think it's important, too, to draw that distinction because I know there are people who would say, “You're just encouraging them. You're feeding the trolls.” But there really is a difference between feeding the trolls and, you know, letting a fire burn uncontrollably. If you don't get the facts out there, somebody is going to tune into the page and they're going to assume some crazy thing that some person alleged must be true.

Ball: Exactly, yeah. Silence can be taken as confirmation, and I’m not silent.

Cranson: But, you know, you try to--like I think in this most recent thread, this ongoing chaos over, you know, mumble strips and people venting their anger and, you know, every armchair engineer in the state, it seems like, weighed in. And one of them joked that, you know, you must be a computer, or a bot and you said, “I just point out that a bot would never say that Van Halen was better with Sammy, but I so will.” So, tell me where that came from.

Ball: That happened one time actually on Twitter a few months ago. A couple guys were accusing our Twitter page of being a bot, and that it just popped into my head. It's like what is something that a bot would never say? What is something that almost universally a lot of people, you know, make a distinction between this was better with this than that? And I always thought about, you know, Van Halen with David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. A lot of people always point to well, you know, the original Van Halen was the best with David Lee Roth. And I grew up in the 80s. I was born in the mid-70s, and when I was coming of age with music, all I knew was--I was aware of David Lee Roth, you know, in the early days of MTV. But, you know, the Sammy Hagar days were the best, and it just popped into my head. It's like, oh, okay, I know how to stir this up and make it abundantly clear that this is not a bot pre-programmed with, you know, what people assume to be the quote-unquote popular thing or truth or whatever. So, I just shared that on there as kind of like a throwaway “ha-ha” gag, and all of a sudden, the thread just went off in a whole new direction, in a positive direction, which was great.

Cranson: Yeah, yeah. Well, I think, yeah, it cracked me up. So, talk a little bit about that most recent, you know, I don't know what you would call it, “conversation.” How many comments did you get up to on this whole mumble strip issue?

Ball: The mumble strip one, and it's still going, it was like up to like 850, 860, something like that. What was funny was that we also had another thread about the I-275 project that was kind of blown up at the same time. So, it got to the point where when I was responding to people, I had to kind of go back through and make sure I was responding to the right thing.

Cranson: Right, right.

Ball: [Laughing] Yeah.

Cranson: But I think that's the thing about this is that I think people, they want to get their opinion out there and then when you tell them, “No, that's not quite right,” for the most part, they accept that, but then they'll start on something else and then that takes you down another rabbit hole and you stay with them. Do you find personal satisfaction in that?

Ball: I do that I’m able to get the correct information out there. What's interesting about that is, you know, the whole reason why the department wanted to start this page was, you know, as you know, media continues to get more and more fragmented. And sometimes getting our message out there through the media, they just weren't covering a lot of, you know, information that we were putting out there. So, you know, with Facebook and Twitter, that's why we have it is to get that information out, to get the facts out. So, you know, to be able to respond directly to people and actually, have people say, “Well, thanks, you know, I never knew that. That's good information. Thank you so much.” That is fulfilling to know that that's my job and it's actually working, and I’m doing, you know, what I’m supposed to be here to do. And, you know, a lot of people it's like they just don't know because there's so much information out there, a lot of misinformation that, you know, sometimes when they're asking questions, they're not being malicious about it or snarky, they just really don't know. So, having these pages is so vitally important. I know that social media has kind of taken a dark turn in recent years, but by keeping at it and staying with just the facts, you know, from what I’ve seen, a lot of people really respect the fact that we are continuing on. We haven't, you know, bowed out like some places that have shut down their Facebook and Twitter pages. And the fact that we've kind of soldiered on and kept it going, you know, that's really fulfilling. And to have people, you know, in the last couple weeks tell us that we're doing a good job, that really does feel good.

Cranson: Yeah, and I think that I think it is important for us, especially. There's no state department that touches people from the minute they leave their door until the minute they get home every day the way transportation does. And it's accepted that people are always going to be second guessing, questioning, whether it's the city street department or the county road commission or the state department of transportation, they're going to. It's so wide open. You drive by and you see the work. It's all so transparent that you're bound to have frustrations and form opinions. And I think that this is the best of what Facebook, and Twitter for that matter, can be in terms of setting the record straight and showing that kind of responsiveness. So, I know it is appreciated by the right people, and I think that knowing how to mix in facts with a little bit of humor sometimes also makes the page worth visiting. Is there anything else you'd want to say about the job and, you know, why you think it's so important, even as you mentioned social media, Facebook especially, is really under the gun right now?

Ball: Yeah, you know, like you mentioned, with Facebook saying that they just don't have the resources to fact check and things like that, it just kind of puts the onus on us even more as a department to make sure that all the information that we put out is as accurate as possible. And, you know, really with the job that I do I depend on the entire department. I depend on our Transportation Service Centers keeping Mi Drive up to date, making sure that all the projects that are happening are still labeled on there because I do get a lot of questions like, “What's going on with this project? What's going on that project? So, you know, Mi Drive is an important tool for that. It's only as good as the information that it has posted on there. And also, just being able to get in touch with all of our engineers across the state, getting information on projects. We get a lot of questions like, “What's going to happen with this road?” And, you know, I look at our five-year plan website, and if it's not there, I go to the TSCs and find out from engineers if it's on our radar. It really is a team effort to get all of this information out. So, you know, if I didn't have that kind of support, I wouldn't be able to do anything. So, it's great to have that kind of support and teamwork from the entire department of, I don't know, what is it, 2,600 employees or so?

Cranson: Yeah.

Ball: It’s a lot of people that make this possible.

Cranson: It's made you a skilled researcher and somebody that, you know, knows where the resources are so you can get the information quickly. And, yeah, I think that, you know, with the governor's bonding plan and even more road work plan the next couple years, you know, your job's only going to be busier. So, since you did give a plug to Mi Drive, why don't you just talk for a little bit about what Mi Drive is in case somebody's listening that doesn't know what that means.

Ball: Oh, yeah, that's our website at Michigan.gov/Drive. It has a whole map of the entire state of all the state routes, the I, M and US routes that MDOT is responsible for, and that is a very frequent thing I have to remind people about of what MDOT handles versus local roads. If I don't have information for a local road, I at least give them the contact information for the county or city road agency that they need to get a hold of. And Mi Drive just has all the current projects listed on the map, up upcoming projects. And it's really just a snapshot of what's happening right now, and it's not just construction projects, but it's also traffic incidents, crashes, whatnot.

Cranson: Cameras.

Ball: I'm sorry. What's that?

Cranson: Cameras, I said.

Ball: Yes, and the cameras, too. A lot of people depend on those, and when they're out they let us know. And also, it's got the traffic speeds to kind of give you an idea of how traffic's moving throughout the area. So, it's really an important tool for everybody, and, you know, it's kind of grown as we've also grown our social media following by being able to use that and point people in that direction. So, we really do feed off of each other that way. And it's just, you know, without Mi Drive, you know, I wouldn't have half the answers that I’m looking for people.

Cranson: Well, thanks, Jesse. Thanks for taking time to let people get to know you, a little bit about you, and why you do what you do. I really appreciate it.

Ball: Great, thank you.

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Cranson: Thank you again for listening to this week's edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast. I would like to thank Randy Debler and Corey Petee for engineering this week's podcast. To subscribe to show notes and more, go to Apple podcasts and search for Talking Michigan Transportation.