If Twitter is the answer, wt* was the question? Is there a place for
social media in the formulation and implementation of government
policy in 2011?
Slide 1
Title slide.
Slide 2
Who?
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War is boring: “We go to war so you don’t have to”
Carl Pine’s Line of Departure: Military.com’s News and National Policy Journal
Screenshot of Admiral Mike Mullen’s Twitter account (@thejointstaff)
Screenshot of Twitter search results for actvcc hashtag.
Screenshot of Kings of War Twitter account (@Kingsofwar)
Screenshot: “The Best Defence: Tom Ricks’s Daily Take on National Security”
Screenshot of QantasWallabies’ Twitter account (@qantasqwallabies)
Screenshot of Abu Muqawama blog
Screenshot of Small Wars Journal’s Twitter account (@smallwars)
Slide 3
But who do I know?
Statistics from the Sensis Social Media Report May 2011
http://about.sensis.com.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/SENSIS%20SOCIAL%20MEDIA%20REPORT[2]
.pdf (3265KB)
Chart: Frequency of accessing the Internet
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Everyday: 79%
Most days: 7%
A few times a week: 5%
About once a week: 1%
Less often than weekly: 1%
Never: 6%
Chart: Proportion who access the Internet
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Total: 94%
Male: 96%
Female: 93%
14-19: 100%
20-29: 100%
30-39: 98%
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40-49: 96%
50-64: 93%
65+: 80%
Slide 4
Sensis table: Social networking site usage by age and gender
Frequency Total
(803)
Everyday
30%
Most days 10%
A few
8%
times a
week
Once a
5%
week
Less than
9%
weekly
Never
38%
Average
12.4
times per
week
Male
(402)
25%
9%
8%
Female
(401)
36%
11%
8%
14-19
(100)
70%
15%
7%
20-29
(140)
52%
20%
12%
30-39
(134)
39%
9%
10%
40-49
(135)
14%
11%
7%
50-64
(160)
15%
5%
7%
65+
(134)
5%
3%
5%
6%
5%
1%
6%
6%
5%
5%
8%
10%
7%
0%
4%
9%
22%
5%
10%
42%
10.6
34%
14.1
7%
24.9
7%
21.4
27%
15.2
41%
7.9
64%
6.5
69%
3.1
Slide 5
Social Media Use in Australia
Sensis chart: Frequency of using social networking sites
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Everyday: 30%
Most days (4 to 6 days a week): 10%
A few times a week (2 to 4 days a week): 8%
About once a week: 5%
A few times a month (2 or 3 times a month): 4 %
About once a month: 3%
Less often than once a month: 2%
Never: 38%
Average = 12.4 times a month
Slide 6
What sites?
Sensis table: Social networking sites used
Site
Male
(224)
Facebook 95%
(97%)
LinkedIn 11%
(9%)
Twitter
9%
(8%)
Myspace 6%
(4%)
Other
8%
(3%)
Female
(226)
99%
14-19
(92)
98%
20-29
(130)
98%
30-39
(94)
93%
40-49
(78)
99%
50-64
(58)
97%
65+ (38)
8%
1%
3%
12%
14%
17%
14%
7%
9%
7%
14%
3%
5%
4%
3%
4%
3%
9%
1%
4%
0%
1%
4%
3%
8%
5%
1%
5%
99%
Slide 7
How often and how long?
Sensis table: Frequency of using social networking sites
Site
Proportion
who use
Facebook 97%
LinkedIn 9%
Twitter
8%
Under 1
time per
week
5%
17%
9%
1 to 2 time
per week
3 to 5 time per
week
6 to 10 time per
week
11 to 19 time per
week
20+ time per
week
20%
31%
15%
20%
21%
13%
24%
14%
28%
12%
3%
8%
18%
14%
28%
Average
times per
week
16.2
7.7
23
Myspace
4%
33%
46%
6%
14%
0%
1%
2.6
3 to 5 minutes
average time
spent on each
usage
occasion
6 to 10 minutes
average time
spent on each
usage occasion
11 to 15 minutes
average time
spent on each
usage occasion
16 to 30 minutes
average time
spent on each
usage occasion
Over 30 minutes
average time
spent on each
usage occasion
Average
times (mins)
17%
25%
17%
13%
22%
10%
22%
19%
15%
17%
19%
8%
19%
16%
8%
13%
22%
11%
6%
19%
21.1
13.1
11.4
14.8
Sensis table: Frequency of using social networking sites
Sensis table: Time spent on social networking sites
Site
Proportion
who use
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Myspace
97%
9%
8%
4%
Up to 2
minutes
average time
spent on
each usage
occasion
5%
19%
29%
28%
Slide 8
Why?
Declaration of Open Government
The Australian Government now declares that, in order to promote greater participation in
Australia’s democracy, it is committed to open government based on a culture of engagement, built
on better access to and use of government held information, and sustained by the innovative use of
technology.
Lindsay Tanner, Minister of Finance & Deregulation, 16th July 2010
Slide 9
Ok, but really, why?
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Informing: strengthening citizen’s rights of access to information, establishing a prodisclosure culture across Australian Government agencies including through online
innovation, and making government information more accessible and usable;
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Engaging: collaborating with citizens on policy and service delivery to enhance the processes
of government and improve the outcomes sought; and
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Participating: making government more consultative and participative.
Slide 10
Seriously, why?
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Make the news not be the news
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Tap into a wider circle of stakeholders
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Accelerate the information cycle
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Reduce the cost of communication
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Eliminate the middle man
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Correct errors
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Understand the channel
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It’s surprisingly interesting
Slide 11
What?
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Plan on Facebook
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Organise on Twitter
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Report on YouTube
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Channel choice
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Tool choice
Blog:
o
Post: Publish
o
Comment: Reply
o
Like: Approve
Tweet: Events, Alerts
o
RT
o
HT
o
#
Slide 12
But I’m no expert...
Screenshot of an archive and analytics of the gov2au Twitter hashtag. Detail includes:
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Archive: #gov2au
Archive contains 11,286 Tweets
Archive started: 28 August 2010
Archive Status: Archiving
Archive last updated: 30 hours ago
Visualisations updated on 24 July 2010
Archive is Public
Image: Tweet volume over time from 1 January 2010 to 1 July 2011
Pie chart showing top users in descending order:
o Craig Thomler
o sherro58
o Piawaugh
o Tri
o zBeer
o chieftech
o DavidBromage
o lizbuchanan.
Tweets VS Retweet: pie chart showing slightly greater proportion of retweets compared to
tweets.
Chart showing top words in descending order:
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o GOV2AU
o GOV20
o &
o GOV
o GOVERNMENT.
Chart showing top URLs:
o http://bit.ly/cemi3r
o http://bit.ly/g0ficw
o http://bit.ly/hnyox3
o http://webguide.gov.au
o http://bit.ly/dufna5
Pie chart labelled “Source”. Sections in descending order include:
o Web
o TweetDeck
o Echofon
o HootSuite
o Twitter for iPad
o TweetMeme
o Twitter for iPhone
o Twitter for iPad
Slide 13
Where to start?
Individually:
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Follow
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Read
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Comment
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Post
Organisationally:
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Decide the aim
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Pick the channels
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Develop the content
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Schedule
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Post
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Respond
Slide 14
Questions