Web based communication and online social networking in the New South Wales planning system

This paper looks at the growth of web based communication for planning practice in local government over a three year period. Despite communication with the community being an integral part of local government functions, the types of communication being used are rarely monitored or analyzed. This paper provides a longitudinal comparison of the types of web based communication, including social media and smart-phone applications being employed by Local Government in New South Wales (NSW), Australia,and investigates the activity and sentiment of twitter accounts for a sample of local government agencies. The paper concludes with a discussion of the growth of social media.