
Taylor Swift, Pesto the Penguin, and… Statistics?! - with Heather Lansdowne
From The Random Sample by MACSYS
October 1, 2025 · 34 min · Season 10 · Episode 114
About this episode
Heather Lansdowne discusses how the Australian Bureau of Statistics engages the public through social media.
The art of engagement for the Australian Bureau of Statistics How do you make statistics and complex data not just understandable - but engaging? For the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the answer is simple: meet people where they are - on social media. From pop culture and sports to quirky factoids, the ABS social media team uses fun, relatable content to build a massive following. How massive? We’re talking hundreds of thousands of followers across multiple platforms. Once they’ve got your attention, they make sure the important ABS material is right there in the mix - explained clearly and accessibly. In this episode, we speak with Heather Lansdowne, the leader of the ABS social media team, about how they’re changing the way people connect with statistics. Our host is Tim Macuga. Episode webpage: https://www.therandomsample.com.au/podcast/abs-social-media/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
People in this episode
Host: Tim Macuga
Guest: Heather Lansdowne
Topics covered
- social media
- statistics
- engagement
- data communication
- pop culture
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
Keywords
- statistics
- social media
- engagement
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- data
- pop culture
- communication
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS
Books & works: Taylor Swift, Pesto the Penguin
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