Federal Government agencies have widely embraced social media and Web 2.0 tools in the wake of the Government 2.0 Taskforce report, documents released by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) show.
According to the documents, released as part of an effort to better communicate the work being done in Government 2.0, Twitter, Facebook, blogging and RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication) were now in widespread use by federal agencies.
Almost 50 Federal agencies now have Facebook pages, some in the form of official pages for an agency and others in the form of specific public campaigns such as anti-depression initiative BeyondBlue and youth mental health initiative Headspace.
Close to 100 agencies, ranging from major departments such as Defence and Health and Aging to smaller agencies such as AusAID, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, now had official Twitter accounts
Agencies such as the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Department of Finance and Deregulation and the national library of Australia are also shown to be making widespread use of blogging.
Some 133 Web 2.0-related initiatives were currently being run by agencies including creation of information portals and tools, campaigns, and data warehouses.
Some 364 news feeds via RSS were also being run.
According to AGIMO first secretary John Sheridan, the release of the information will support greater government engagement and transparency.
“These lists are another step towards creating a more effective register of agency Government 2.0 activity,” Sheridan wrote on AGIMO’s official blog.
“In the future, we may look to refine or build on these lists and would be interested in any ideas you may have in this area.”
Sheridan, speaking at the recent CeBIT 2011 in Sydney, has also argued that real financial gains and improvements in contract conditions are being realised as a result of the Federal Government’s eight ICT whole-of-government panel arrangements.
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