Social media and recordkeeping requirements
Purpose
This Records Advice has been prepared to provide ACT Government employees with guidelines for saving records generated through official ACT Government social media channels. It is intended to help ensure that social media records are managed consistently alongside other types of Territory records. This Records Advice should be read in conjunction with Records Advice 72 Social media recordkeeping strategy, Records Advice 73 Social media recordkeeping approaches, Records Advice 74 Social media recordkeeping scenarios and the ACT government’s Social Media Policy.
Background
Many types of social media channels or applications are being used by the ACT Government and these may include:
•	Micro-blogging sites (examples: Twitter, Yammer);
•	Social and professional networking sites (examples: Facebook, LinkedIn);
•	Video and photo sharing websites (examples: YouTube, Flickr, Pinterest);
•	Blogs – online diaries for pictures and updates (examples: Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress);
•	Wikis – libraries of collaborative documents that groups of people can edit (example: Wikipedia); and
•	Forums and discussion boards (examples: Google Groups, Ning, Whirlpool).
Recordkeeping requirements apply to social media engagement in the same way as for other kinds of government activities and social media engagements will often generate information that must be appropriately managed as Territory records.
Directorates are responsible for the proper management of all their records, including those created through social media channels such as maintaining an identified ACT Government presence on a social media channel and responding to or acting upon comments including anonymous and unattributed comments. If the information generated through social media channels is used or needed by a Directorate to help perform, improve or report on its operations then, in accordance with the Territory Records Act 2002, that information will need to be managed as a Territory record.
Instructions
Each social media channel must have its recordkeeping requirements considered and the results of that consideration documented and approved.
To do this, agencies should develop a social media recordkeeping strategy, with input from both the business area and records management team, before they begin using a social media channel. This is important because most social media applications are owned by a third party provider, located in the cloud and are subject to regular change.
The social media recordkeeping strategy should:
1.	Assign responsibility for monitoring the social media channel in an official capacity: together with procedures that help ensure records are appropriately captured and managed.
2.	Identify risks associated with the engagement: this will help identify whether a high or low intensity recordkeeping approach is appropriate and inform monitoring procedures.
3.	Appraise the value of the records being created: informed by the risk assessment, this will identify whether a high or low intensity recordkeeping approach is appropriate by understanding how long the records need to be kept accessible for.
4.	Identify the most appropriate recordkeeping approach: to ensure it reflects the identified engagement risks and value of the records created, and complies with the agency’s Records Management Program and the requirements of the Territory Records Act 2002.
See Records Advice 72 Social media recordkeeping strategy for more information about developing and preparing a social media recordkeeping strategy.
See Records Advice 73 Social media recordkeeping approaches for more information about identifying an appropriate recordkeeping approach.

For more information
See Records Advice 72 Social media recordkeeping strategy.
See Records Advice 73 Social media recordkeeping approaches.
See Records Advice 74 Social media recordkeeping scenarios.
To view the social media policy for the ACT government see Social Media Policy.
The complete list of Records Advices is on the internet at http://www.territoryrecords.act.gov.au/recordsadvice
More detailed information on the ACT Government records management regime may be found in the Territory Records Office Standards http://www.territoryrecords.act.gov.au/standards and the related Territory Records Office Guidelines http://www.territoryrecords.act.gov.au/guidelines
For advice about tools for capturing social media information, see State Records NSW.
This Records Advice was informed by State Records NSW, Public Record Office Victoria, Queensland State Archives and National Archives of Australia.