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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-PAD-060 Social Media COUNTY OF NEWELL - POLICY HANDBOOK POLICY NO: 2014-PAD-060 TITLE: SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTED: SUPERCEDES NO: 2011-PAD-060 February 20, 2014 (C-68/14) TO BE REVIEWED: PAGE NO: 1 of 4 POLICY PURPOSE: To promote openness and transparency and to present matters of public interest to residents of the County of Newell, businesses, visitors, and other interested parties. DEFINITIONS: Facebook: a free social utility that allows users to communicate with friends, family, and coworkers. Users can become “friends” with others and become “fans” of groups including governments. Facebook Fan: a Facebook user who joins a Facebook business, government, or celebrity page. Fans receive news, notifications, and updates. There is also the possibility for these Fans to engage in two-way dialogue. Flickr: a free social utility that allows users to share photos in an online gallery. Follower: a Twitter user who chooses to follow the tweets of another user. Google+: a free social utility that allows users to communicate with friends, family, and coworkers. Users can add other users to their “circles” and receive updates. LinkedIn: a free professional network utility that allows users to communicate with friends, family, and coworkers. Users can add other users to their “contacts” and receive updates. Moderator: County of Newell staff member designated to maintain the information on the County of Newell social media sites. Social Media: information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. It is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information, and content. Twitter: a social networking service that allows its users to communicate through primarily text-based messages of up to 140 characters. COUNTY OF NEWELL - POLICY HANDBOOK POLICY NO: 2014-PAD-060 TITLE: SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTED: SUPERCEDES NO: 2011-PAD-060 February 20, 2014 (C-68/14) TO BE REVIEWED: PAGE NO: 2 of 4 GUIDELINES: General Social media will be used to publicize official County of Newell business, services, and events. Each social media site will include a statement that clearly specifies the purpose of the site and directs the user back to the County web site. All County of Newell social media sites will be administered by the Information Technology Department, who will designate responsibility to individuals who will act as moderators for the sites. Individual departments MAY NOT have their own pages/sites. Information published on Facebook, Flickr, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter will supplement the information published on the County of Newell web site and through other channels, such as the local media. Wherever possible, links within social media formats should direct users back to the County of Newell web site (www.countyofnewell.ab.ca) for more information, forms, documents, or online services. Links to all social networks to which the County of Newell belongs will be listed on the County web site. The County of Newell reserves the right to delete submissions that contain vulgar language, personal attacks of any kind, or offensive comments that target or disparage any ethnic, racial, or religious group. The County of Newell also reserves the right to delete comments that: -contain spam, advertising, or include links to other sites -are clearly off topic and/or disruptive -advocate illegal activity -promote particular services, products, or political organizations -infringe on copyrights or trademarks -violate any County of Newell policies Unacceptable content should be removed as soon as possible and deleted records retained for public record. Users who are subscribed to any County of Newell social media channel should be removed or blocked if they continue to post inappropriate content after one (1) warning has been given. COUNTY OF NEWELL - POLICY HANDBOOK POLICY NO: 2014-PAD-060 TITLE: SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTED: SUPERCEDES NO: 2011-PAD-060 February 20, 2014 (C-68/14) TO BE REVIEWED: PAGE NO: 3 of 4 The County of Newell will not comment on other social media members’ sites. All official social media postings by the County of Newell will be done solely on the County’s social media sites or in response to postings made on the County’s social media sites. Posting to Social Media Sites All postings made by the moderator to social media sites will contain information and content that has already been published or broadcast in an official manner. Individual departments wishing to add content to official County of Newell social media sites may submit a request to the moderator, who will review the submission to determine if the request is appropriate and adheres to the guidelines of this policy. County of Newell employees MAY NOT represent the County of Newell on their own personal social media sites and make every reasonable effort to make it clear that their contribution to social media sites is as a private individual. Approved Social Media Sites At this time, the social media sites used by the County of Newell include Facebook, Flickr, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter. All requests for new social media sites and services to promote County of Newell business, services, or events must be submitted to the Information Technology Department for approval. Requests should be accompanied by: -the purpose of the social media site or service -the primary audience served -the reason internal or existing resources will not meet these needs -a project timeline Communication Direct messages sent to social media accounts will be treated as general correspondence and kept in accordance with Bylaw 1306-00. Formal customer service requests, comments, or enquiries, or responses to items published for public comment (such as circulations to adjacent landowners) must be submitted in writing and include the author’s proper name and contact information. COUNTY OF NEWELL - POLICY HANDBOOK POLICY NO: 2014-PAD-060 TITLE: SOCIAL MEDIA ADOPTED: SUPERCEDES NO: 2011-PAD-060 February 20, 2014 (C-68/14) TO BE REVIEWED: PAGE NO: 4 of 4 The moderator will be responsible for responding to comments and messages as appropriate and will direct users back to the County of Newell web site for more information, forms, documents, or online services. Chat functions in any social media sites will not be used.