While civil engineers and contractors build physical highways, computer engineers and software designers are constantly redrawing the way we navigate the internet ... building social highways.

You could call it a buzzphrase ... digital town square.

But today, reporters and our public are more often than not skipping events - like public meetings, press appearances - and plugging into Facebook, Twitter, even text alerts to gather news and give their opinion. It's a new age of communication using social media and smartphones.

New phrases for new platforms. The app is where it’s at, as mobile is the fastest growing way to interact. More than 40 percent of people socialize online rather than face to face. And, there are more devices connected to the internet now than people on the earth.

Every minute of the day there are … 100,000 tweets, 2 million google searches, 684,478 pieces of content shared on Facebook, 3,600 Instagram photos posted, and 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube. Every. Minute.

But in social media, it's not really about quantities. It's not about platforms. Just because you can create an account, doesn't mean you should.

It's what helps your mission. Research, map your strategy, plan your content.

Be friendly. Stand out in the crowd. Talk to YOUR audience, which means finding out who they are. Then provide information, i.e. content, that’s useful, ask questions that make a difference – again no matter which platform. Try to be the perfect party guest.

Be relevant. Know the difference between check-ins, hashtags and handles. You can't fake your way through a sports conversation, and social media is no different.

If your audience is tweeting or pinning or checking in, then meet them on their own turf. Try it yourself. Watch and learn. Be real. Be relevant.

Don't just be on social media, be visible with content, content, content! Emphasize on-the-ground posts and images - more than 92 percent of retweets are spawned by "interesting content” and people share 250 million photos a day on Facebook.

Visuals help humanize your efforts and bring projects and users together – our ultimate goal.

The name of the game is collaboration. Find resources that help people connect with your project, and each other, in real time ... Online forums, Facebook contests, “ask me anything,” interactive blogs and maps, embeds – the ideas are endless when it comes to creating conversations.

So let's use social media, and explore some creative ways agencies and experts are creating conversations to relate their audiences ... starting @PartneringCon, a Twitter account created for today's presentation.