Content Guidelines

Content 

4.1. The content of City social media sites shall only pertain to City-sponsored or City-endorsed programs, services, and events. Content includes, but is not limited to, information, photographs, videos, and hyperlinks.

4.2. The City shall have full permission or rights to any content posted by the City, including photographs and videos.

4.3. Postings shall be made during normal business hours. After-hours or weekend postings shall only be made with approval of the City Public Information Manager.

4.4. Any employee authorized to post items on any of the City’s social media sites shall review, be familiar with, and comply with the social media site’s use policies and terms and conditions.

4.5. Any employee authorized to post items on any of the City’s social media sites shall not express his or her own personal views or concerns through such postings. Instead, postings on any of the City’s social media sites by an authorized City employee shall only reflect the views of the City.

4.6. Postings must contain information that is freely available to the public and not be confidential as defined by any City policy or state or federal law;

4.7. Postings may not contain any personal information, except for the names of employees whose job duties include being available for contact by the public;

4.8. Postings to City social media sites shall not contain any of the following:

4.8.1. Comments that are not topically related to the particular posting being commented upon;

4.8.2. Comments in support of, or opposition to, political campaigns, candidates or ballot measures;

4.8.3. Profane language or content;

4.8.4. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, or status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation, as well as any other category protected by federal, state, or local laws;

4.8.5. Sexual content or links to sexual content;

4.8.6. Solicitations of commerce;

4.8.7. Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;

4.8.8. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; or

4.8.9. Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party.

4.9. These guidelines shall be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink on all City social media sites. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available.

4.10. The City reserves the right to implement or remove any functionality of its social media site, when deemed appropriate by the Public Information Manager. This includes, but is not limited to, information, articles, pictures, videos or any other form of communication that is posted on a City social media site.

4.11. Except as expressly provided in this Policy, accessing any social media site shall comply with all applicable City policies pertaining to communications and the use of the internet by employees, including email content.

4.12. All of the content on City social media sites must be provided to the City’s Public Information Manager for review, approval and subsequent posting to the social media site.