I decided to do a survey of the major arts companies Facebook interactions. The list of companies comes from the Australia Council’s website. “These companies must meet a range of criteria, including the demonstration of the highest artistic standards, a sizeable audience base and having a minimum average income of more than $1.6 million over the previous three-year period.”
My survey was conducted on 25 June 2013 of the public Facebook pages of the companies. The posts are public posts by the respective companies. The interactions are a vital figure and include post likes, shares and comments within the 10 day period of 14 – 24 June 2013.
These figures are purely a snapshot of activity at this point. Because of the fluidity of social media posts the figures may contain an element of changeability and I invite companies to do further analysis.
The interactions are an important figure as I have examined in my blog post on audience engagement.
| Company | Company Likes | Posts | Interactions |
| Adelaide Symphony Orchestra |
3959 |
14 |
297 |
| The Australian Ballet |
51731 |
7 |
1997 |
| Australian Brandenburg Orchestra |
3943 |
1 |
129 |
| Australian Chamber Orchestra |
9278 |
7 |
370 |
| Bangarra Dance Theatre |
12624 |
10 |
2504 |
| Bell Shakespeare Company |
10741 |
2 |
15 |
| Black Swan State Theatre Company |
4080 |
16 |
165 |
| Circus Oz |
11216 |
4 |
517 |
| Company B |
10391 |
3 |
49 |
| Malthouse Theatre |
6294 |
6 |
118 |
| Melbourne Symphony Orchestra |
8686 |
6 |
488 |
| Melbourne Theatre Company |
11900 |
4 |
238 |
| Musica Viva Australia |
2583 |
14 |
154 |
| Orchestra Victoria |
589 |
1 |
6 |
| Opera Australia |
2056 |
16 |
676 |
| Opera Queensland |
2056 |
2 |
37 |
| Queensland Ballet |
12162 |
8 |
1166 |
| Queensland Theatre Company* |
8447 |
25 |
455 |
| State Opera of SA |
1163 |
2 |
32 |
| State Theatre Company of SA |
2432 |
13 |
83 |
| Sydney Dance Company# |
16845 |
8 |
801 |
| Sydney Symphony Orchestra |
10518 |
15 |
355 |
| Sydney Theatre Company |
19843 |
2 |
33 |
| Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra |
1981 |
2 |
70 |
| Queensland Symphony Orchestra |
3215 |
1 |
221 |
| West Australian Ballet Company |
6819 |
6 |
153 |
| West Australian Opera |
1684 |
8 |
119 |
| West Australian Symphony Orchestra |
4389 |
10 |
595 |
*I have combined the Queensland Theatre Company Facebook page with the Queensland Theatre Greenhouse page.
# I have not included the SDC Studios Facebook page which had 10 930 likes, no posts and no interactions.