As the Australian Federal Election 2010 finale looms, and there is still a division on which broadband policy stacks up the best, one thing is for certain.  Social media users, informed businesses and tech-heads are all relying on Australia showing itself as a progressive nation within this realm.

And as social media marketers strive to give their customers more reasons to engage with them in open forums, there are still opportunities for even further uptake in regional areas of Australia, despite opinion that uptake of broadband is a laborious and difficult pastime - see The Australian

Consumers are poised for engagement.  While marketers are seeing the joys of this new two way conversation, in all its glory and heartache, the elected Government needs to bring to the table the knowledge, practical skills and systems which can pull us into the future as a nation and allow us to be as competitive as possible.  Some of the questioning and apparent lack of knowledge has proven cringe-worthy, to say the least. There is no longer just a national market waiting for the taking.  Business, brands, people, innovation and investment sits centre stage as a global concern and Australia needs to make sure it is primed to make the most of its opportunities.

Nielsen's has given us some interesting fodder in terms of where the social media trends will take us in terms of our tweeting, facebooking, posting and sharing.

Twitter has recorded the strongest growth in social media usage growing by more than 400% in 2009 with 23% of online Australian reading tweets in the last year, 14% choosing to 'follow' companies organisations and 13% choosing to post tweets.( 1 ) It will be interesting to see how the statistics have changed particularly in light of the election which has seen twitter take up the mantel of discussion where many traditional media outlets seemed to flounder on the big picture.

Figures from Nielsen's Asia Pacific Social Media Trends report also highlights the growing trends for Australia, which are unique to the region.  It sites that:

• Current social media global reach is rising, showing Australia currently standing at 71.8%
• LinkedIn is the social media site to watch after experiencing a +99% increase in unique audience between July 2009 and May 2010
• The Australian's have a penchant to engage on 'boards' rather then with 'blogs'
• That Virgin Mobile is set to be the biggest innovator within the field in Australia
• The opportunities for marketers lie in the launch of 'listening boards' ( 2

Australian's are talking to the world now which 10 years ago would have an entitlement for only a few.  Technology gives us the opportunity to reach out and be a part of a wider community across a range of spheres - environment, health, innovation, education, welfare and aid.  What happens after Saturday will be an important turning point in our efforts to continue our global conversation.

Be part of the Social Media discussion at iStrategy Sydney 2010, bringing together Australia's leaders in social media marketing.

1 Source - Nielsen 2010 Internet and Technology Report, March 2010

2 Source - Asia Pacific Social Media Trends - Global Perspectives and Local Realities, Nielsen, June 2010