ACMA moves into social media to “engage” stakeholders
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has hired former Sydney Morning Herald executive editor, Tom Burton, to create its social media and “engagement” strategy.
The new role, commencing February 1, will see Burton take on the title of executive manager of Gov2.0 external communications and stakeholders.
ACMA defines Gov2.0 as “the use of new media applications such as Facebook, wikis, blogs, social media apps like YouTube and Flickr, and instant messaging tools including Twitter, to give users more open access to Government information and processes”.
Burton told Mumbrella: “The first thing to do is an audit. It already has a relatively sophisticated website and we’ll be looking at how we can apply modern tool sets and ask how we can engage and open up government processes. So it’s not a a token or band aid approach but about creating openness and transparency.”
Burton is returning from Washington DC where he has spent several years implementing ‘Gov2.0’ practices as communications and online director for The Center for American Progress (CAP) – a think tank run by President Obama’s transition chief, John Podesta.
In Australia, he worked as managing editor and executive editor for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Let me get this strait: the same body that will be responsible for censoring the internet in Australia will lead the Gov 2.0 push. This has to be someones idea of a sad joke…surely.
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No, the job is to coordinate ACMA’s own Gov 2.0 efforts.
If you want to have a go at them for something, have a go at them for defining Government 2.0 as “the use of new media applications such as Facebook, wikis, blogs, social media apps like YouTube and Flickr, and instant messaging tools including Twitter, to give users more open access to Government information and processes”, i.e. as being about just plugging in new tools, as opposed to being a new attitude and developing new changing the very way they achieve their goals given that the citizenry and government now have access to all these new tools.
That said, the Government 2.0 Taskforce did recommend there be some overall coordination across the government on this — but thatt’s not this guy’s job.
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