Using Social Media in Government: The Australian Taxation Office e-Tax Facebook Page

This paper reports results of an investigation into the use of Face book within government within the broader agenda of gaining an insight into the social media use by government. The use of Face book by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is presented as a case study of a poor example of Face book implementation by government. The case study examines the use of a Face book page for e-Tax and seeks to evaluate whether Face book is a suitable web 2.0 application for the ATO, and whether its current use meets stated organisational objectives for the use of social media. The paper concludes with a summary of the research findings and recommendations as to how the use of Face book by the ATO can be improved.