(Video) Interview: LADOT Bike Program's Christopher Kidd Talks Social Media #bikeLA

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I spoke with the LADOT Bike Program's former Assistant Coordinator, bike blogger, and recipient of the 2011 APA Distinguished Leadership Award - Student Planner, Christopher Kidd, just after his last day on the job this week.

In his two years with the LADOT Bike Program, the LADOT has gone from being technologically in the dark, to adopting social media in innovative and impressive ways. Sprawling multiple networks, the program created an engaging presence on Twitter, Facebook, and of course the LADOT Bike Blog.

We talked about how the LADOT Bike Program initially adopted the use of social media, engagement with the Los Angeles bike community online, transparency, and more. Have a look:

From his farewell blog:

Since those first salad days, the LADOT Bike Blog has blossomed into a resource center for bike information & bike projects in LA, an outreach tool to the public, and a line of communication between the Los Angeles bicycle community & the LADOT Bike Program.  Earlier this year, that commitment to outreach and cooperative discussion manifested in the launch of a facebook page and twitter feed for the Bike Program.  I can’t say that I envisioned back in March of 2010 everything that the Bike Blog has become, but I’ll take it.

Throughout a year and a half of fits and starts, controversy and calumny, triumph and disappointment, the LADOT Bike Blog became more than an outreach tool for me; it became a labor of love.  It has afforded me the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most dedicated and talented people I have ever met.  It has allowed me to work at the cresting of what I truly believe is an unstoppable movement for safer streets and more livable communities.  It has, in short, been quite a ride.

The L.A. bike community has come to know Christopher Kidd well over the the past two years, and he will certainly be missed. He'll be replaced by USC graduate student Jojo Pewsawang who will take the head author position at the LADOT Bike Blog.

Follow on Twitter @LADOTbikeprog

How has the bike community and local gov. in your city adopted social media? Keep us posted. 

Joe @ BCN