This presentation was given at the 2013 International Public Sector Conference of CPA Australia on 22 February 2013 in Brisbane.

The slides are shown here with some brief remarks. The transcript will be posted on our blog soon.

About 52% of Australians use Facebook. About 19% are less than 15 and most of these probably don't. About 4% are older than 80 and again these people largely don't use Facebook. That leaves 25% of people between 15 and 80 who don't use Facebook. I deduce then that the users of Facebook in Australia outnumber the non-users by 2 to 1.

AGIMO conducted a series of 6 surveys of e-government satisfaction by Australians. The last was in 2011. It showed significant usage of electronic channels by Australians of most ages.

More than 1/3 of Australians have reported using the Internet for their last transaction with government at each of the three levels. This has been consistent since 2008.

Australians have created some 1.9 million australia.gov.au personal accounts. 1.3 million of these are linked to services including those provided by the Departments of Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and others. As part of the Government's decision regarding the Reliance Framework, this account system will be transferred to DHS this financial year.

DHS has developed a range of mobile applications to assist its clients to obtain the services they need.

Finance has developed a mobile version of this directory to assist those who need to contact departments and their staff.

Finance provides an effective, open source (WordPress) blogging platform for agencies at a small fee. It currently houses more than 50 blogs/sites with more than 40 more in development.

Perhaps the best known use case for social media is in emergency management. Following the lead of the Queensland Police Service media unit, many such agencies now make regular use of social media channels to inform the public in times of crisis.

Social media platforms like Facebook allow an agency to quickly, cheaply and reliably establish a presence. The capital costs of the infrastructure are met by the provider, in indirect exchange for the advertising or related revenue that popular sites attract.

The use of social media often requires and generally thrives on use by identifiable account holders. This creates new challenges for organisations and individuals alike.

Agencies can seek guidance on web usage, including social media, from the Web Policy Guide at http://webguide.gov.au

Building a social media strategy is focussing on the tools rather than the outcome. Agencies should develop a communications strategy that recognises that there are many tools, including social media, that can be used to contribute to the outcome.

It isn't enough to build an online presence and hope that the audience will come to you. Agencies have to determine where the audience is. Sometimes it will be in an existing online community and agencies will need to join that community, building their credibility and contributing to the discussion in order to be relevant.

Not all channels are right for all audiences. A good communication strategy will use the appropriate channels for the right purpose. For example, having a Facebook page but not responding to comments is likely to have a negative effect on the agency's image.

An effective communications strategy will have a consistent message and the various tools used will contribute to maintaining this consistency.

People visit online sites for any number of reasons. They come back to them because the content is interesting and meets their needs. It is critical to provide regular new content so that the audience wants to come back. A successful site launch will be built on well-prepared content, ready to release in a controlled manner.

In order to determine the success of an online presence, measurement of outcomes and audience is critical. There's a temptation in social media to rely on 'likes' or 'follower counts', or even third party systems that purport to measure influence. These are unlikely to be all that accurate. Instead, the outcomes should be measured by the behaviour of the audience, changes in coverage of agency activities or similar methodologies.

Current technologies and tools have significantly accelerated the speed at which online activities can be launched and the ease with which they can be maintained. Agencies should recognise these changes and move quickly to take advantage of them.

Points touched on in questions included:
- the need for the APS to maintain a factual and authentic web presence, avoiding spin, and
- the management of resources and the need to balance the temptation to have 24/7 coverage with a realistic view of the requirements.