Gosport Borough Council's social media policy

What is it?

Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technology to create and exchange information between individuals, organizations and communities.  It includes online social forums such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and video and image sharing websites.

Gosport Borough Council currently uses social media to communicate effectively with customers and stakeholders and it is likely that the use of social media will increase in the future.

This policy enables effective use of social media whilst protecting the Council's business information and any client or customer information within its custody or safekeeping by safeguarding its confidentiality, integrity and availability.

This policy covers the creation and use of social media sites on behalf of Gosport Borough Council and the posting of comments on Gosport Borough Council and other social media comments and blogging sites.

Specifically this policy deals with protecting the reputational integrity of the council and provides an appropriate level of awareness, knowledge and skill to minimize the occurrence and severity of information security incidents and misuse of social media resulting in potential discrimination, harassment, defamation or breach of confidentiality.

Who does it apply to?

This policy applies to employees and all those working for the Council including contractors and third parties.

It is available to all users of the Gosport Borough Council Information Communication Technology (ICT) systems via the council intranet and all those who work for the Council.

Main points

1. You are expected to behave in accordance with the council's Code of Conduct for Officers at all times.  Further information can be found on the Council intranet, from your manager or by contacting Personnel.

Officers must not use Council-owned equipment for personal purposes or for social media sites other than as duly authorised in accordance with the Council's Internet Acceptable Use Policy.

Site set-up

2. All social media internet sites used for Council business must be approved by the Head of IT and the person requesting the site's line manager prior to creation.

3. An owner must be identified for each social media site before publication. It is the Unit/Section's responsibility to inform the IT Helpdesk if this contact changes for any reason.

4. The primary reasons for the use of social media at work (and therefore the most likely to be approved), are time sensitive communications (e.g. emergency response information), community engagement or as marketing information for initiatives.

5. The site owner will be personally responsible for the daily monitoring, responding, upkeep and content of any social media material within their site.

6. Where possible the sites must meet the standards set out in the IT security standards and any related policy.

7. Where possible the sites must also ensure that they do not infringe the council's diversity and equality policy (e.g. in relation to accessibility standards) and related policies.

8. Any exception to this policy must be approved by the relevant Unit Manager and the Head of IT.

9. Gosport Borough Council will continue to have its primary presence and engagement on the internet through its main website: www.gosport.gov.uk.

10. The following documents are required for each social media site created:

• purpose, scope and operational usage guides
• account management processes
• branding process
• design standards

11. An approved list of social media sites and their owners is held by the IT Team.

12. Assurance of the standards will be undertaken by the Head of IT.

Links to the main Council website

13. Wherever possible all referenced information will be made available on the main website as supplied by the social media site owners, along with any important messages posted on the social media site.

14. Access to any service or form filling will also be via the main website unless otherwise advised by the relevant Unit Manager or Head of IT.

15. Where possible there should be a link on the relevant council web page to the relevant social media platform and vice versa.

Social media site content

16. All social media sites are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and Data Protection Act 2018 (DP). The owner of the site is responsible for responding to all FOI and DP requests and breaches. Statements should be posted on the site to any posting participant that the post will be kept on record and can be disclosed to the public where appropriate.

17. The retention period of any information should meet statutory requirements.

18. Users of the Social Media site must be informed of the purpose of the site.

19. Users must be informed that their posts may not be published/or may be deleted if they meet any of the criteria list below: -

• comments that are not topical to the article being discussed;
• comments that are politically motivated
• profane language or content
• material that perpetuates or promotes discrimination related to protected characteristics i.e. race, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage or civil partnership or gender reassignment or could be considered as discriminatory, bullying or harassment of individuals, or as hate crime;
• sexual content or links to sexual content;
• solicitation of commerce;
• illegal conduct or encouragement/support of illegal activities;
• information that compromises or may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
• content that violates the legal ownership interests of any other party.

20. All social media sites must have the above statements displayed or made available via a link.  Any content based on these guidelines must be retained, including the time, date and identity of the poster when available.

21. Gosport Borough Council reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this social media policy or any applicable law.

Blogging, Tweeting and posting

22. Staff should feel able to respond to comments on Council administered social media sites where they feel knowledgeable and confident to do so, particularly where someone is looking for help, having a problem with a service we provide, or is incorrect in statements made.

23. Where they are unable to respond to such postings they should raise the matter with their manager or inform the relevant team/section.

24. Where an issue is potentially damaging to the reputation of the council the Head of IT and a member of the Legal Team should also be alerted.

25. Where a mistake is made in a posting, it should be publically corrected at the earliest opportunity.

26. It is important to engender respect for fellow employees, Gosport Borough Council and users. This should be reflected in all postings.

27. All tweeters/bloggers should ensure their entries comply with the following blog etiquette: -

• I will tell the truth;
• I will write deliberately and with accuracy;
• I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly;
• I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing;
• I will never delete a post, although a poster could delete their own post and reposted to correct information where there is an error such as an incorrect link, providing no one has liked or commented on it;
• I will not delete comments unless they do not meet the requirements of this policy;
• I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly;
• I will strive for high quality with every post - including basic spellchecking;
• I will stay on topic;
• I will, where necessary to disagree with other opinions, do this respectfully;
• I will link to online references and original source materials directly;
• I will disclose conflicts of interest;
• I will keep private issues and topics separate from work issues and topics.

Social media in personal life 

The Council recognises that many employees, and others representing the Council, make use of social media in a personal capacity, away from work/in non-work time using their own devices.  Whilst they are not acting on behalf of the Council at the time, it is important to maintain awareness that if they are recognised as employees or representatives of the Council, the Council's reputation can be damaged by their actions.

Any communications that officers make in a personal capacity must not:

• bring the organisation into disrepute (e.g. making defamatory comments about others, criticising customers or colleagues)
• breach confidentiality in any way (e.g. give away information about a colleague, customer or the organisation which is not necessary or is in any way confidential)
• breach copyright (e.g. use written content without permission),or
• do anything which could be considered discriminatory against, or bullying or harassment of, any individual (e.g. making offensive or derogatory comments, posting offensive images).

Breaches of the policy

Breaches of this policy may lead to disciplinary action.  Serious breaches, e.g. incidences of bullying of colleagues or other activity causing serious damage to the Council's reputation, may constitute gross misconduct and lead to summary dismissal.

Review and Update

This policy will be reviewed and updated as necessary by the Head of IT in the light of developments in the field of social media.

Further advice and information 

Contact the Head of IT (David Eland Telephone: 023 9254 5309)