Strategies for managing social media records

Back to top

Executive summary

NSW Government has a strong and growing social media presence.

Studies of government use of social media show that social media can enable government to reach new audiences, establish communities of practice, provide services and deliver important and effective messages to the community.

The benefits of social media for government business includes:

• improved customer services
• increased access to information
• increased involvement of the community directly in government decision making.

Information generated through social media can provide value to business and the community and should therefore be well managed in order to maximise this value.

Social media use by government is also subject to community expectations and legislative requirements for the appropriate management of information. These guidelines clarify how agencies can meet these obligations for good information management.

The guidelines state that:

Information about government business is increasingly located in social systems

If this information is needed by your organisation to help perform, improve or report on its operations, then you will need information management strategies to support your social media business.

You only need to manage the social media information that meets your business needs

You do not need to make and keep information about all your organisation’s social media business. Information management rules do apply to social systems but they are governed by your organisation's specific needs and risks.

Social media information strategies must be planned and proactive

These strategies need to be proactive not reactive because social applications are subject to regular change and cannot be relied upon to maintain business information for as long as it may need to be kept.

Different strategies may be required for different social media applications and a wide range of tools is available to support your information needs

These guidelines assist in managing information generated by all forms of social media including social networking tools, blogs, photo and video sharing and wikis.

The guidelines also provide detailed social media information management strategies, and provide an overview of tools which can assist with the management of social media business information.

See also Frequently asked Questions about social media.

Back to top

Why social media information needs managing

There are many forms of social media applications

Types of social media applications used in NSW government include:

• micro-blogging sites (examples: Twitter)
• weblogs, or 'blogs' – online diaries for pictures and updates (examples: Tumblr, Blogger)
• social and professional networking sites (examples: Facebook, LinkedIn, Yammer)
• video and photo sharing websites (examples: Instagram, YouTube, Flikr, Pinterest)
• wikis and online collaboration tools (examples: Wikipedia, Sharepoint)
• forums and discussion boards (examples: Google Groups, Ning, Whirlpool)
• video on demand and podcasting (examples: SoundCloud)

Information in social media applications needs to be managed

Information about government business is increasingly located in social systems.

If this information is needed by your organisation to help perform, improve or report on its operations, then you will need information management strategies to support your social media business.

But only manage the social media information that meets your business needs

You do not need to make and keep information of all your organisation's social media business. There are no blanket rules that say 'you must make and keep information about everything you tweet and every update on your Facebook wall'.

Information management rules do apply to social systems but they are governed by your organisation's specific needs and risks. Social media is a delivery channel for business and decisions to keep information is based on business needs for information, not the fact that social media is being used as a delivery platform.

Business needs could include the need to:

• integrate information received through social media with business as usual processes, or business improvement strategies
• keep social media information of long term business value
• enable corporate accountabilities operating in other business areas to apply in social systems.

A basic rule of thumb to apply to information in social systems is: If you need it, manage it. If you don't need it, leave it.

Social media information strategies must be planned and proactive

Social media information strategies need to be proactive, not reactive. Strategies need to be proactive because in general social media applications are:

• third party owned
• located in the cloud
• subject to regular change
• unable to be relied upon to maintain business information for as long as it may need to be kept.

Recent advice in the United States, The Sedona Conference Primer on Social Media (October 2012) says that:

Social media data is often hosted remotely, is dynamic and collaborative by nature, can include several data types and is meant to be accessed through unique interfaces.

It recommends proactive export and maintenance of social information that has ongoing business value, because maintaining accessibility to core information in social systems is challenging.

It is also important to be proactive in the management of social media information because the majority of social systems make it very clear that it is not their job to manage your business information.

Therefore, if your organisation is likely to need the business information you are generating through your social systems, you need to plan for this information to be kept.

Back to top

Management strategies for social media information

There are a range of information management strategies you can apply to your social systems, based on your specific business needs and risks.

The strategy you choose needs to be based on an analysis and understanding of business needs and risks. You may need to choose different information management strategies for each of the different social media channels used, depending on the different levels of traffic, risk and discussion within these channels.

Any information management strategy you choose should be regularly reviewed, as your organisation’s use of social media may move from a fairly passive use to active and engaged. Once social media channels become widely accepted for business communication and engagement in your organisation, it is likely there will be a greater need for effective management of the information generated.

Leave the information where it is strategy

What this means

You choose not to capture and keep information of your social media business operations in internal systems, choosing instead to leave your business information in its native social media application.

For example: You do not export any tweets out of Twitter. Instead you choose to leave all tweets, retweets, mentions etc in your Twitter account.

It is important to note that you cannot choose a default ‘leave the information where it is’ strategy, it must be a specific risk-based decision.

Why would I choose this?

You would choose this strategy if you believe there is no long term value business information in your social media application, and your business areas will not require ongoing access to this information. You would also need to ensure that all staff who require access to this information are able to gain access to it through the social media system.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

Does not guarantee ongoing accessibility of business information	Many social media service contracts give providers the right to permanently remove content at any time, without recourse. Therefore using this strategy, there are no guarantees that social media-based information will remain accessible.
Could result in unacceptable risks	If business, reporting or legal requirements mean that you will need to access your social media information for 2 or more years, it may be an unacceptable risk to rely on social media applications to maintain this information for you.
Needs to be deployed following specific risk-based decisions	In many scenarios it may be that a 'leave the information where it is' strategy may be an appropriate business choice for you, but you do need to assess and accept all associated risks before making this choice.

Low level information management strategy

What this means

You capture regular, scheduled downloads of your social media information using freely available online tools.

Why would I choose this?

You would choose this strategy if you wanted to keep simple yet comprehensive information about of your social media transactions. Available tools are also online, easy to use and frequently free or available at a very low cost.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

Requires scheduling	This strategy requires someone to perform regular downloads of social media content and to capture this information into an appropriate storage location. If this is not performed, the risk is irregular, non-systematic information management.
Generates standard data dumps	This strategy creates data dumps in standard formats which may require additional processing in order to be reused for other business purposes.
Results in data duplication	Online tools that can generate these downloads are often designed as data backup tools. They will generally download all data in your social media account, and will not necessarily enable you to specify that you only want data from a specific time period.This can lead to duplication in your social media information, particularly for active accounts. This can lead to duplication in your social media information, particularly for active accounts.

What tools can be used to do this?

• Cloud-based backup systems like Backupify
• Social media monitoring or dashboard tools
• Reporting tools that come with social media applications, such as Facebook Activity Logs
• Analytic tools, such as Google Analytics or blog software analytics

Monitoring-based information management strategy

What this means

You use a social media monitoring tool to capture information about your social media conversations as well as reactions to this engagement.

Why would I choose this?

Monitoring tools can capture both social conversations and also reactions to your conversations and operations. As such they can provide information and business intelligence about your social engagement.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

May be hampered by a lack of export capacity in some tools	Risks may arise if the monitoring tool you are using is unable to export or fully export data into your corporate business systems.
May be hampered because some tools export data in limited formats	Some systems may only export information in formats designed to support machine processing, such as CSV, rather than formats that support information dissemination or business use and reference.
Can be costly because monitoring tools can be expensive	Some monitoring tools can require a more significant financial investment than other, simpler strategies.

What tools can be used to do this?

• Social media monitoring or dashboard tools
• Reporting tools that come with social media applications, such as Facebook Activity Logs
• Analytic tools, such as Google Analytics or blog software analytics

Needs-based information management strategy

What this means

You deploy information management strategies as specific needs arise.

Why would I choose this?

You would deploy a needs-based strategy if most of your social media traffic was very low risk conversations. However, if a specific issue arose or if you wished to consult on a particular project, you could deploy an information management strategy to capture these specific conversations.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

Requires ownership and management	If no one takes ownership of information management when it is required, the risk is a strategy will not be deployed to support higher risk conversations.
Requires active awareness and engagement	This strategy requires an active understanding of your social systems and an awareness of when more high risk transactions and conversations are taking place, and an understanding of what information management strategy should be deployed to support these.

What tools can be used to do this?

• Cloud-based back up systems like Backupify
• Cloud-based information services such as Social Safe and Archive Social
• Social media monitoring or dashboard tools
• General third party, cloud-based reporting tools like Storify
• RSS feed
• Screenshots

Reporting as an information management strategy

What this means

Documents compiled to report on social media campaigns and strategies are maintained as information about these campaigns and strategies.

Why would I choose this?

If you need to compile regular reports to assess the performance of your social media strategy against identified benchmarks, then good information that summarises social media operations is already being created. Managing this can provide good ongoing information about your strategy.

This strategy is particularly effective for campaign-based social media use as it provides regular information that can help focus messages, respond to feedback and improve performance, while also providing an ongoing record of social media operations.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

Needs to be reassessed if social media becomes normalised	Regular reporting on social media strategies may only take place for a specific period of time. If social strategies become business as usual processes and continue to operate beyond identified reporting periods, new strategies may be required to capture any required business information.
Creates high level, not operational information	Reports generally capture high level information about communications and metrics. If more detailed information about specific social media transactions is required by operational staff, other forms of information may be required to support these business needs.

Information for reuse strategy

What this means

You capture information from your social systems in order to reuse this information for future business purposes.

Why would I choose this?

You would adopt information for reuse if you are performing lots of transactions on your social sites and there is the potential for cost, time and performance efficiencies through the effective reuse of the information generated through these transactions. The information for reuse strategy involves capturing information about advice provided on social systems in a spreadsheet, database or other searchable and accessible environment.

When similar advice is required in the future it does not have to be redeveloped but can be copied and reposted as required. This provides benefits through the provision of consistent advice and can also assist if many different staff across your organisation are providing customer service through your social channels.

You would not choose this strategy if you needed specific evidence or accountabilities around each specific instance of advice provided. If you need clear accountabilities and evidence of specific instances of advice, you require a ‘information management for accountability’ strategy (see below). With the information for reuse strategy, you are just reusing good advice for efficiency and consistency.

This strategy is particularly effective for campaign-based social media use as it provides regular information that can help focus messages, respond to feedback and improve performance, while also providing an ongoing record of social media operations.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

Must be fit for purpose	If reuse strategies are not well designed and fit for purpose, there is the potential that information reuse may not be efficient or result in time or cost savings. Appropriate assessments need to be made to identify what information should be captured to enable easy and effective search and retrieval.
Does not provide evidential or accountability	This strategy creates reusable information, not evidence and accountabilities for high risk business areas. If evidence and accountabilities are required, use the ‘information management for accountability’ strategy below.
Must be supported by all relevant staff	If all necessary staff are not engaged in capturing relevant information, comprehensive information will not be available for reuse. Tools used need to be accessible to and updatable by all relevant staff.
Must be supported by clear guidelines	Staff need clear advice about what information they need to capture into these tools and how they can reuse the data in the tools. Advice about common keywords or terms to use to aid information retrieval can help to ensure information is accessible.

What tools can be used to do this?

• Purpose-built databases or spreadsheets are commonly used for this purpose

Information management for accountability strategy

What this means

You deploy a rigorous management approach to all your social media activities. You capture full and accurate records of all your social media business.

Why would I choose this?

You would choose this approach if:

• high risk business operations are moving to social systems
• you have long term business and community accountabilities in these business areas
• you need clear accountability and evidence of advice provided via social media and of your social media transactions
• your organisation has a high risk profile and needs to be able to fully account for its public statements and operations

In all of these scenarios, a rigorous information management strategy will ensure strong evidence of your social media operations is accessible, accountable and useable for as long as you require it.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

Can be expensive to implement effectively	Purpose built software tools can be expensive to design, configure and deploy but this cost could be justified in key strategic circumstances.
Is a maximalist approach	This is a comprehensive strategy that will capture a lot of transactional information, but this may be warranted in high risk business areas or for key social strategies.
Requires good configuration and management	Because of the volume of information that potentially will be captured, systems used for the information as accountability strategy need to be well designed and configured, to help apply business appropriate management rules to the social information generated.

What tools can be used to do this?

• Purpose built social media information management systems, available from a variety of vendors have the capacity for this management

Another advantage of comprehensive and purpose built systems is their capacity to capture, manage and leverage much of the native metadata attached to social media communications. Leveraging this metadata in these systems allows social media content to be navigated, authenticated, managed and used.

Information management through broadcast systems strategy

What this means

Some large organisations, such as those involved in emergency management, need to be able to communicate mass broadcasts in emergency situations and communicate these messages through multiple delivery channels.

Why would I choose this?

These systems would be adopted by your organisation if it has business needs for large-scale or pre-programmed communication.

What are the risks of this approach from an information management perspective?

This strategy:

Does not guarantee ongoing information accessibility	In terms of information management, there are no guarantees that the information maintained in the broadcast system will remain accessible for long periods of time.
Requires a strategic understanding of information needs	The majority of information in these systems will generally be secure for the life of the system, but if the system is upgraded, replaced or decommissioned, you will need to determine if any information in the system needs to be kept for ongoing business or legal purposes.
May require export capacity to ensure ongoing accessibility of long term value business information	If communications generated by the system need to be kept for long periods of time or if they need to be presented in court cases, these may need to be exported out of the broadcast system and managed elsewhere for as long as they are required. For high value information, it may be easier to export this regularly after an emergency event out of the system and store it in a central business system, rather than determine at system decommissioning what information requires export for ongoing support and management. If it is likely that this information will be needed in legal cases, governance around any information export and system decommissioning processes should be rigorous and clearly demonstrate the comprehensiveness and accuracy of these processes.

Back to top

What information management strategy should we use?

You need to base your information management strategies on what your specific business needs are:

We are broadcasting standard marketing messages to our clients and user community

If these communications are routine and you have no business needs to maintain information about them:

• consider the leave the information where it is strategy and leave all information in the social media application/s you are using.

If you need basic information about these communications for reporting or monitoring purposes:

• consider a monthly or half yearly export of your messages using the low level information management strategy.

We are having conversations with our clients and user community on social media

If these conversations are routine, self contained or provide standard advice and you have no business needs to maintain information about them:

• consider the leave the information where it is strategy and leave all information in the social media application/s you are using.

If advice provided by staff is not routine in nature, if it is complex or involves vulnerable clients or relates to ongoing matters or needs to be referred to by other staff members for advice:

• these conversations require much more rigorous management. Processes need to be in place to export these conversations for case management, business continuity and/or accountability purposes.
• consider deploying a needs-based information management strategy or an information management for accountability strategy, depending on which best meets your business needs.

We are publicly consulting on a plan, strategy or project using social media

If there is a business need to use the public feedback received through social media:

• consider deploying a needs-based information management strategy or an information management for accountability strategy, depending on which best meets your specific business needs.

We post videos explaining how to use our services on YouTube

If these videos provide routine advice to your community and you have no specific business or accountability needs to maintain them:

• consider the leave the information where it is strategy and leave your videos on YouTube until you no longer have a corporate need for them, then delete.

If these videos are significant, explain an important policy or mark a significant public statement or new public direction for your organisation:

• develop an appropriate management plan for your corporate video before it is uploaded to YouTube.

Content exported out of YouTube and back into corporate systems can be of lesser quality than the original uploaded content. Organisations frequently do not maintain copies of video content on internal servers when it is accessible via sharing mechanisms like YouTube. For high value or significant videos, however, it can be important to maintain a copy in internal systems.

We use social media to monitor community sentiment and to revise our products, advice or services accordingly

If this monitoring is routine and informative and does not result in significant changes to your business and you have no ongoing business needs to reference this data into the future:

• consider the leave the information where it is strategy and leave all information in your social media monitoring tool.

If the monitoring data informs planning and decision making in your organisation and is needed as justification for changes in policy direction:

• consider a monitoring-based information management strategy or a needs-based information management strategy.

We have some difficult users engaging with our community in our social channels and we want to remove some challenging content

Organisations can be responsible under defamation legislation for defamatory content that others post on corporate social media accounts.

If you have concerns about defamatory or obscene content that is posted on your social media channels:

• use a needs-based information management strategy to capture a record of inappropriate content in case legal or other business needs arise to explain your actions and then remove the offensive content from your social channel.
• use internal information management processes to manage the offensive content removed from your site.

Back to top

Tools for capturing social media information

As social media is relatively new and rapidly evolving technology, there are no defined, best practice ways for making and keeping social media information as a business asset.

Organisations also use different social media channels, in a variety of different ways and for various different types of business operations.

Given there are no easy answers for how you should capture and manage your social media information, you should choose the strategies that best meet your business needs and technological environment, while making a full assessment of the potential risks involved.

The table below lists a range of strategies for capturing and keeping your social media information, and the pros and cons associated with each approach.

Tool/approach	Pros	Cons
Leaving data in its native social media application	No separate information management effort required No additional software or applications required Staff using the application will know how to access and use the information it contains Short term value information is not likely to be at risk	Long term value or high accountability information will be at risk due to projected frequency of system change Risks to ongoing information accessibility exist because information remains under the control of an external third party Limited corporate information accessibility if a log-in is required to view or use data
Using available APIs to regularly export your information from social media applications	Information is regularly exported into corporate system Corporate information is brought back into corporate control Exported information can be fed into all relevant business systems and processes	Technical knowledge is required APIs can change and so API-based export strategies may require ongoing update Different APIs will be required for each social media channel
Cloud-based social media archiving services	These types of social media archiving services can capture content from a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest and YouTube. These services captures the context or full native record of social medial information in JSON/XML formats and directly from the social media platform.
Cloud-based back up systems like Backupify	Free, basic online services Support a wide variety of social media applications Information can be regularly exported Corporate information can be brought back into corporate control Some information is exported in open, non-proprietary formats (For example, Backupify generated Twitter reports are in PDF) These services work with a range of social media channels, including Google apps	These tools are back up tools, not information management tools. Their interfaces and data exports are designed to satisfy IT and backup requirements, not business or information management needs. For example, Facebook data is exported by Backupify in JSON which meets backup needs but which is not readable or accessible for standard business environments. With these tools, export of information out of social media applications is automated but downloading of this information out of the cloud is not. Downloading and capturing into corporate systems must still be performed as a manual, scheduled process. As they provide backup services, these tools generally download all your social media information, not information from a specific time period. The same legacy data will generally be downloaded each time you do a backup, resulting in significant amounts of duplication for high transaction accounts. These services also change. For example, in late 2012 Backupify announced that it would no longer provide backup services for LinkedIn accounts.
Local backup systems such as Digi.me	Support a wide variety of social media applications Snapshot copies of your data onto local servers	Information is flat and not dynamically available to reuse or repurpose Free basic online services, scaling to fees for full service options
Application specific export tools like Instaport	Application specific tools (like Instaport which exports images in Instagram) are available for information export. Generally free, online services Generally export to widely open, accessible formats	Dependent on log-in access to social media account where content is housed Instaport exports in .zip file which may not be the most efficient for reuse purposes May be limits on the number of images or other forms of social media content that can be downloaded For images, you may need to assess whether full metadata attached to each image, such as location coding is maintained through export process. For images, export format may be limited (for example, Instaport exports images as  612 x 612 pixels) and may be smaller with lesser image quality than the original image.
Social media monitoring or dashboard tools	Many third-party, cloud-based tools are available for free, such as HootSuite Can aggregate information from several social media channels Can piggyback information management needs on the back of existing reporting or monitoring arrangements Provide reporting and listening services to monitor the effectiveness and impact of your social media presence	Limited information accessibility if a log-in is required to view or use data There may be limits on the reporting and analysis information that is available for export Key business intelligence and reporting information is contained in reports and analysis so exportability of this information needs may vary Some organisations use licensed applications such as Radian6 and Alterion. While offering good functionality, these systems can be expensive to deploy and maintain and the exportability of their information needs to be verified
Export tools associated with blog or wiki technologies	Free tools offered as part of blog or wiki services Simple to use Can export some or all of your content, depending on your specific business needs Export information in open formats which can enable reuse and repurposing	Not all blogs or wikis have export capacities Export is often limited to specific formats. For example, Wordpress version 3.8.1 exports all content only in XML. Export is primarily designed to carry data from one blog or wiki version to another, not for business reuse or ongoing information management purposes. Information may require subsequent processing to render it in formats suitable for specific business use.
Reporting tools that come with your social media application, such as Facebook Activity Logs	Free, online services Generally export to PDF and other widely open, accessible formats Capture all activities that occur on social media sites	Export needs to be manually performed Information is flat and not dynamically available to reuse or repurpose
Analytic tools, like Google Analytics or blog software analytics	Free, online services Useful for monitoring blog use, search engine terms, referring sites, top posts and pages Some information can be exported Some corporate information analysis can be brought back into corporate control	May not export reports May not export reports in business-ready formats May need to be supported with screenshots, written reports or other ways of capturing the business information
General third party, cloud-based reporting tools like Storify	Free, online services Can allow you to gather a range of disparate social media information sources into one place to tell a story Particularly useful for capturing different sets of online information about events or conferences	Export functionality may not be present
Use a purpose-built software tool	Can be designed to meet your specific business requirements Can be designed to integrate and share information with your corporate business applications Can provide a very comprehensive and accountable recordkeeping solution Information capture and management can be automated	May involve initial purchase and subsequent licensing costs Will take time and money to implement effectively Will possibly need to be upgraded as social media applications and approaches change
RSS feed	Free Useful for a range of social media applications Useful for auto-populating Twitter and Facebook based on blog updates Can be configured to send an email containing a complete blog post, or tweet or comment etc to a designated account	Emails will require manual intervention to capture into corporate systems for accessibility and useability
Screenshots	Information can be kept Information can be kept in accessible formats Images provide an exact representation of the content as it appeared in the social media application and have been submitted as evidence in legal cases	Information needs to be manually updated Information will require regular staff commitment to keep up to date Information is flat and not dynamically available to reuse or repurpose For active accounts, there will be a significant cost in staff time
Reports of pre-scheduled posts	Information is compiled as part of process of developing and authorising social media posts	Information is not an exact representation of what was posted on social media sites but is an approved records of what was authorised to post

 

Back to top