Recordkeeping and social media

NSW Government-run social media channels create state records every day, including:

• posts, including videos
• comments
• analytics generated by the platform; like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter)
• analytics, case notes and responses from social media management platforms (like Hootsuite and Sprout Social).

Agencies must manage records, information and data in accordance with the State Records Act 1998, retention and disposal authorities issued by State Records NSW and their organisation’s records and information management policies.

When looking at records created or posted on social media platforms, agencies 

• should refer to their records and information management team for guidance on:
• how long the record needs to be retained for
• social media information strategies that the agency has in place, and
• the best format for recordkeeping.

Which records to keep

There are different requirements for keeping records, depending on which of the criteria they meet.Information about higher risk, longer term or strategic business generally needs to be kept for longer periods of time, for example: 

• Rural Fire Service posts that communicate during a bushfire (25 years)
• ministerial social media activity (during a Minister’s term of office)  
• replies to comments that involve complex answers (retention period varies)
• any posts that have to be deleted, the reason for them being deleted and the policies or procedures that support comment/post deletion (retention period varies). 

Some records may have a shorter retention period and only need to be maintained for 1-2 years, for example:

• marketing and promotional posts
• customer service interactions
• general inquiries from customers and responses  
• community consultations, where a report is generated summarising the results.

Contact your records and information management team for advice on identifying how long a record should be retained.

Archiving tools

In some instances, you may need to use a third-party platform to capture social media records. This is because native social media platforms usually provide limited access to data and customer records. It may also reduce the risk of data loss if the social media platform encounters a security breach or ceases to exist. Third-party social media archiving tools allow users to access consolidated data from across your platforms with user-friendly interfaces. Some social media management tools provide this service, so make sure you find out what you already have access to before investing in a new platform.

If you’re using an archiving tool, please destroy stored information after the necessary retention period. There is no single retention period for social media records, as this depends on the purpose, content, or result of the communication.

Storing personal information

Collecting social media records may count as ‘storing personal information’. For example, a user’s display name and profile picture may be stored when a social media report is created. It’s important your agency outlines your obligations and how you will comply with them when obtaining personal information in the relevant privacy collection statement (for example, on your agency’s website).

Personal information may in some circumstances also be disclosed to third parties if a request is made under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA Act). 

Speak to your privacy team to understand your obligations in regard to collecting, using, storing and disclosing personal information and what you need to do in order to comply.

Closing down accounts

If there is no longer a customer or business need for a social media account, it should be closed. 

Before closing an account you should:

1. record what the account’s function was and why it was shut down (sending this in an email or making note of it in a document is sufficient)
2. share a holding statement (for example “As we are focusing on [initiative], we’ll be shutting this account on [date]. To keep up with projects like [name] and [name] follow [@handle] or visit [website].” or “We’ve changed names. We’re now operating under @newpage. Please follow us there! This account will be inactive after [date].”)
3. respond to messages and provide a way to contact the appropriate team or person
4. wait one week, then close, deactivate or hide the account (inactive accounts should not be visible to the public).  

If you're going to need the account to run advertising campaigns in the future, it is best to leave it dormant (preferably hidden or deactivated) until needed. 

As always, contact your records and information management team on how to capture/save the records of a social media account.

Some pages or groups do not offer an archive download, so you will need to manually archive posts, comments and other data where a download is not available.

Need help?

If you have questions about recordkeeping and capturing social media records, email State Records NSW at govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au