Social media use in the Australian energy and resources sectors

Abstract

Abstract. Social media is becoming ubiquitous, but may not always be an effective way for companies to interact with their stakeholders. This paper reports the results of ongoing assessments of social media use in the Australian energy and resource sectors, starting from 2013. Nearly all energy and mining companies had publicly accessible websites but, while increasing, social media use is (still) relatively limited compared to other industries. LinkedIn (with a recruitment focus) was the social media channel most commonly adopted across the extractive sectors although Twitter and YouTube increasingly are being adopted. Larger companies use more channels, post more and have more followers. In contrast, even small environmental and community groups frequently used a range of social media. While this might suggest social media should be a place to engage such groups in dialog, other recent studies suggest that in practice social media platforms are often difficult venues to do this. Not least, this is because companies cannot control the directions of conversations. For example, customers of utility companies frequently use Social Media to bypass official grievance mechanisms, which over time has apparently led to demand driven increases in resourcing needed to deal with this. In addition to providing an industry-wide benchmark of social media use, these surveys provide a basis for comparison to other industries to understand what role social media could have in better engaging stakeholders associated with the extractive sectors.

Quantitative analysis of social media use in the energy and resources sector: national comparison and sector analysis

“…In fact, many firms operate more than one social media channel to enhance their online presence and social media leadership. These findings are consistent with those of Styan (2018), who found that operating more than one social media channel is beneficial for corporations in the energy and resources market, as it enables them to reach specific communities that prefer a particular social media channel, such as LinkedIn for networking professionals.…”

“…The growing preference for social media use by the corporate sector is largely informed by its effectiveness in engaging the key stakeholders of the company, including customers, owners, the business community, and the media, with firms taking advantage of the interactive features of such platforms to exchange ideas, collect feedback, and respond to concerns raised about the company's brand, products, or services (Styan, 2018). Most firms operating in the energy and resources sector try to maintain a strong social media presence on their preferred social media platform, in addition to operating an official corporate website (Styan et al, 2015). The acceptance of external knowledge on social media by energy and resources companies can also promote the change of companies (Saura et al, 2023).…”

Developing the Higher Education Curriculum

“…While the main points of the exercises are to get the students to consider whether and how social media can be used for communicating with stakeholders, a sizeable database on social media use in the energy and resources sectors has been generated -providing a unique benchmark for industry to consider, which has been motivating for students to be involved in. Subsequently, several students have volunteered to work in partnership with the module coordinator after the course to work up the data into a full written paper, some of which was presented at an international conference on Social Responsibility in Mining in late 2015 (Styan et al 2015). Students value the opportunity to engage in research, work in partnership with an academic member of staff, and produce assessments aimed at audiences which include industry sectors that students are interested in joining.…”

Developing the Higher Education Curriculum

“…Subsequently, several students have volunteered to work in partnership with the module coordinator after the course to work up the data into a full written paper, some of which was presented at an international conference on Social Responsibility in Mining in late 2015 (Styan et al 2015). Students value the opportunity to engage in research, work in partnership with an academic member of staff, and produce assessments aimed at audiences which include industry sectors that students are interested in joining.…”