The Good, The Bad and The Ugly explored the opportunities and challenges social media created for the public sector.

The  guest speakers included head of social media and communications at Telstra, Danielle Clark and director of tandemVox, Jennifer Cromarty.

Ms Clark said social media had "fundamentally" changed and shaped how Telstra functioned as a business.

"I guess once a upon of time people had a relationship with Telstra when they bought a phone, they'd go into a store, they'd talk to us again when their phone broke down or they needed to renew their contract a couple of years later," she said. 

"That was the relationship with Telstra. We now have relationships and talk to customers every, single day and that is certainly something we find very valuable."

Ms Cromarty said social media caused angst because it eliminated the role of a gatekeeper, instead allowing anyone and everybody to have their say. 

"It's a massive shift for organisations and governments to grapple with," she said.