Policy Social Media Policy

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2. What is the council's policy

The Council is keen to maximise its use of social media wherever this is helpful to our customers and residents as a communication channel. This policy is consistent with our Communications Plan and operates within the guidelines set out in the Council’s Information Security Policy.

Material published by the Council will not contain party political material and will not persuade the public to a particular political view, promote the personal image of a particular councillor, promote a particular councillor’s proposals, decisions or recommendations or personalise issues.

The Council’s Communication Team will manage the implementation of this policy as well as manage the Council’s corporate social media site and oversee other official sites which are service specific. Other methods of communication, such as press releases and the Council’s website will continue to be used as appropriate.

Service specific social media sites may only be created if agreed by a Deputy Chief Executive, Strategic / Service Lead. The Council’s Corporate Communications Team will be consulted to ensure that sites are consistent with the Council’s Communications Plan and to confirm whether or not the sites are actually required or whether the Council’s corporate site should be used.

The Communications Team will maintain a register of all Council social media sites and their users and the Communications Team will have access and administration rights to these.

Appendix A lists current authorised sites used by the Council.

Official Sites may only be accessed and edited by those who have been authorised to do so by their Strategic / Service Lead.

Those accessing and editing sites must attend Social Media training organised by the Council.

Strategic/service leads who have an Official Site which allows for the posting of material by third parties must:

  • put in place a system for moderating and/or evidencing before removing unacceptable material and notifying other relevant officers (i.e. communications team and the appropriate service/strategic lead);
  • notify the Communications Team of Authorised Users, ensuring those users received social media training; and
  • ensure that there is cover in the event of sickness or absence.

Please refer to Appendix D for guidelines on dealing with unacceptable content posted by third parties and ensure systems implemented meet these minimum requirements.