Social media use by government

Craig Thomler19 November 2011

Australia’s internet use

Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2011

Australia’s internet use

Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2011

Australia’s social media use

Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2011

Social media channels used

Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2011

Level of social media usage

Source: Sensis Social Media Report May 2011

Australians and social media

Nielsen's Social Media Report for Q3 2011 stated that Australians spent 7 hours and 17 minutes per month visiting social networks and blogs.

Melanie Ingrey, Research Director for Nielsen’s online business said in 2010:“Incredibly, nearly nine in 10 (86%) of Australian’s online are looking to their fellow Internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands” [over official sources]

Source: Nielsen - 2010-11

What about Australian governments?

Use across Aus. governmentOver 275 online consultations in last two years

Over 380 Departmental Twitter accounts

Over 80 agency mobile apps

Over 70 agency blogs (all levels of government)

Over 45 Facebook pages

Over 40 agency YouTube channels

At least 5 data competitions

At least 100 Federal politicians using Twitter

Growth in Twitter use

How Twitter is used

Guidance from government

• Gov 2.0 Taskforce Final Report

• Report largely accepted by the Australian Government in their response

• APSC Circular 2009/6: Protocols for online media participation (now integrated into the APSC code of conduct in practice)

• Open Government Declaration

• Government 2.0 Primer

Government 2.0 represents a fundamental shift

in the relationship between

citizens and government,

to the benefit of both.

Using tools and techniques enabled by digital technologies to bring citizens 'inside the tent'.

Empowering citizens to be active participants in government decision-making processes and supporting them to do for themselves.

Opening up public data for public reuse to inform and enable new insights, better decisions and more effective policy.

Initiatives from individuals and non-government organisations as well as government.

Government 2.0 includes...

Gov 1.0 to 2.0

Magna Carta – 1215 AD Internet – 2010 AD

Government as media

Government as engager

Government as convenor

Government as platform

Implementing Gov 2.0

• The challenges are largely internal• Most of the Australian community are already online

(more regularly go online than read newspapers)

• Web 2.0 technologies are readily and cheaply available(don’t invest in a Rolls Royce if you only need a Yaris)

• ‘How to’ knowledge and examples are widely accessible(Search online – and network with peers)

• Experienced people are out there (though we need more ‘in here’)

Build awareness & experienceStart personally – begin a blog, get on Twitter & Facebook,

join a forum or community (OzLoop, GovLoop and Gov 2.0 Australia)

Build a corporate library of information & case studies (share it via a social bookmarking site, i.e. Delicious)(See Victoria’s eGov Resource Centre and the eGovAU blogroll)

Launch a regular Gov 2.0 / Web 2.0 internal (email) newsletter

Identify a senior management champion in your department

Identify value propositions for specific Web 2.0 uses

Trial Web 2.0 approaches (internally and externally) in non-critical areas, using approved external and internal systems (i.e. GovDex)

Run internal Gov 2.0 briefing events for legal, HR, procurement, communications, IT and management

Arrange briefings with more experienced Departments

Hold a screening / distribute CDs of Us Now (CC BY licensed)

Survey staff on their use of social networks (refer to the questions asked in AGIMO’s Interacting with Government report)

Encourage HR to develop a Departmental social media policy to clarify acceptable online conduct for all staff - can be based off the APS Commission’s Circular 2008/08: Interim protocols for online media participation, also refer to Social Media Governance’s list of social media policies.

Build engagement

Build infrastructure

Your website

Engagement hub Monitoring suite

Forums

Outreach activities

Groups

Social media publishing

URL shortener

File transfer

Survey

Email

Blogs

Blogs Forums

Idea market

Polls

Groups

Web reporting

Social media monitoring

Archiving

Enabling services

Mapping Apps

EmailSocial media presence

Storage (image, video, docs)Facebook Twitter YouTube

LinkedIn FoursquareYammer

Groups

Forums

Generation gap

Political climate

Public service culture

Legislation and policy

Speed of change

Adoption and reach

Limited in-house expertise

Systems (IT, procurement, etc)

Personal versus professional

Security

Challenges remain

Questions?

Craig Thomler19 November 2011