Government social media: The power of 'Like' (2/2)

Early experimentation in social media – and a pervasive sense of restraint because of its potential to get out of control – has given way to a new generation of social media-enabled government organisations. These organisations are actively, successfully and without hesitation using the pantheon of social-media services – not only Facebook and Twitter but the likes of Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, and other more specialised services – to forge new relationships with their citizens.

These successes were the focus of GTR's recent Social Media for the Public Sector conference, held in Melbourne in May alongside the companion Government Mobility and App Solutions conference, where hundreds of delegates joined to share their experiences implementing social media policies and often-related mobile services and applications across their organisations.

REDLAND CITY COUNCIL

Reflective of the growing trend towards citizen interaction during crises, Queensland's Redland City Council tapped into the power of social media to help manage its response to the January 2014 bushfires that ravaged more than 16,000 hectares of land on North Stradbroke Island.

That fire saw two-thirds of the island burnt, making it the largest wildfire in Queensland in over 30 years and the worst ever in the region. More than 1000 residents and tourists were evacuated, with the destruction of vital infrastructure creating power and water supply issues.

Throughout the crisis, the council's Communication, Engagement and Tourism (CET) Group saw the opportunity to use social media to co-ordinate an effective response that would see them working with the public throughout the crisis and the new developments that occur 24/7 in such incidents.

Regular updates, responses to residents' and tourists' questions, and crowdsourcing of information from different parts of the community all played a role in the council's social media response, which spanned Facebook and Twitter as well as a WordPress news site, Bambuser live video streaming.

Use of SoundCloud allowed council emergency relief staff to conduct audio interviews with key members of the response team, then post the clean audio straight online for residents to get the latest updates. One response was uploaded early on a Sunday and was listened to over 400 times that day alone, as well as being used by media in Brisbane and elsewhere.

Social media was also used to run awareness campaigns, such as an interview with Cameron Costello from the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation that described how the fires were affecting the traditional owners of the land.

The bushfire response was co-ordinated with operational staff from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, Queensland Police Service, SEQ Water, Energex, the Redland SES Unit, and the Queensland Government National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Eleven bushfire community information sessions were organised to keep the more than 2000 attendees informed of the latest developments, with updates live blogged on the WordPress site as well as live-tweeting and Facebook summaries. Strongly positive public feedback confirmed the outreach was helping the council meet residents' expectations and requirements.

Social-media tactics were also used in the aftermath of the fires, as the recovery effort continued and the council began working to entice visitors back with the message that North Stradbroke Island was 'open for business' again.

Metrics confirm strong interest in the council's social-media initiative, with 10,000 visits to the news site versus a normal 1000 for the same time period; 600 new Facebook fans; 1 million post impressions on Facebook; 120 new Twitter followers; over 3000 views of Bambuser streaming video; and more.

BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY

The weather is something we all share, but it was a clever social-media campaign that has helped the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) build on that shared interest to create a significant online presence that has engaged citizens – and kept them that way.

While there was always ongoing interest in its services and information, the BoM began working on ways to capitalise on this interest two years ago when it hit upon the idea of encouraging citizen engagement through the use of weather photographs.

Its monthly Timeline Cover Competition now encourages the agency's Facebook followers to vote on their favourite weather photos, with thousands of votes and comments reflecting the ongoing discussions amongst highly engaged citizens.

The success of that campaign led to subsequent new photo competitions including Weather Photos Friday – which now attracts up to 300 photo submissions each week and generates over 1 million page views monthly – and two new features introduced on 31 March of this year.

Those two new features built on the momentum established by earlier campaigns, with Weekend Weather Photos on Monday and the Photo of the Day generating 551,800 and 1.01 million views in their first week alone.

The strong response to the BoM's social-media efforts have helped it meet all of its targeted goals – including raising awareness of the BoM's expanding social media presence, encouraging growth in followers and promoting the reach of future posts, increasing engagement between the organisation and the public, and generating discussion in the broader community about the weather.

Recent months have seen a sharp rise in social engagement with the BoM, with Facebook followers increasing from 50,000 in December to nearly 450,000 today and 9.59 million unique users visiting the agency's Facebook page in the 12 months to 1 April 2014.

Views of individual posts have risen dramatically: a 28 December 2013 post about the Queensland heatwave drew 859,400 views, compared to a similar post from 10 January 2013 that got just 6100 views.

The BoM's biggest success in social media, however, is not only its ability to engage the citizens it serves but its plans to build on this to develop a National Customer Contact Centre that will leverage social and other technologies to continue engaging the Australian public on a regular basis. – David Braue

This story originally appeared in the May/June 2014 issue of Government Technology Review.