Fauquier County Department of Community Development Social Media Policy
Purpose
Fauquier County’s Department of Community Development “the Department” has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is “spoken” on behalf of the Department through the use of Social Media sites (including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter). This Social Media Policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use of Social Media by the Department as means of conveying information about the Department and its events and activities to its residents. The intended purpose behind establishing Department of Community Development Social Media sites is to disseminate information from the Department, about its activities, to the County’s residents. Nothing in this policy shall be applied to prohibit or infringe upon any communication, speech or expression that is protected or privileged under law. This includes speech and expression protected under state or federal constitutions as well as labor laws or other applicable laws. General Policy
1) Department Social Media sites should make clear that they are maintained by the Fauquier County Department of Community Development and that they follow the Department’s Social Media Policy.
2) Wherever possible, Department Social Media sites should link back to the official Fauquier County website for forms, documents, online services, and other information necessary to conduct business with Fauquier County.
3) Department-designated Social Media Administrators will monitor content on Department Social Media sites to ensure adherence to both the Department’s Social Media Policy and the interest and goals of the Department of Community Development.
4) The Department reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this Social Media Policy or any applicable law. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by the department-designated Social Media Administrator(s) for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available.
5) These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.
6) The Department will approach the use of Social Media tools as consistently as possible, enterprise wide.
7) The Fauquier County website at http://www.fauquiercounty.gov/ will remain the County’s primary and predominant Internet presence.
8) All Department Social Media sites shall adhere to applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies.
9) Department Social Media sites are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Any content maintained in Social Media format that is related to County business, including a list of subscribers, posted communication, and communication submitted for posting, may be a public record subject to public disclosure. For FOIA requests, please contact the Department of Community Development office directly.
10) Any pages or content “liked” or “shared” do not imply an endorsement or reflect the views of Fauquier County Community Development.
11) Comments on topics or issues not within the jurisdictional purview of the Department may be removed.
12) Employees representing the County government via Department Social Media sites must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the County and in accordance with all County policies.
13) This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time. Comment Policy
1) As a public entity the County must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
2) Comments or content containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the County:
1. Comments not related to the business of the, or not relevant to the original topic;
2. Violent, profane, obscene or pornographic content and/or language;
3. Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or national origin;
4. Content that threatens or defames any person or organization;
5. Content that is hateful or incites violence;
6. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to, advertising of any non-government related event, or business or product for sale;
7. Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law;
8. Encouragement of any illegal activity;
9. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems
10. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party
3) A comment posted by a member of the public on any Department of Community Development Social Media site is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, Fauquier County, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Fauquier County.
4) The Department of Community Development reserves the right to deny access to Fauquier County Department of Community Development Social Media sites for any individual, who violates the Fauquier County Department of Community Development Social Media Policy, at any time and without prior notice.
5) The Department shall monitor their Social Media Sites for comments requesting responses from the Department and for comments in violation of this policy.
6) All comments posted to the Department’s Facebook site are bound by Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, located at http://www.facebook.com/terms.php, and the Department reserves the right to report any violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to Facebook with the intent of Facebook taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.
7) All comments posted to any Department’s Twitter sites are bound by Twitter's Terms of Service, located at https://twitter.com/tos, and the Department reserves the right to report any violation of Twitter's Terms of Service to Facebook with the intent of Twitter taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action. Reporting/Removal of Unauthorized Comments
The Department requires that Department-designated Social Media Administrators immediately notify the Director of Community Development if there is any posted material that may be inappropriate, that violates this Policy, or any County policy, is illegal, or that potentially infringes the copyrights or other rights of any persons. Community Development Senior Staff will investigate and respond to all reports of potential violations of this Policy. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by the Department for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available. Upon removal of content, the Social Media Administrator shall notify the commenter that their response has been deemed inappropriate and removed due to inconsistency with the Department’s content requirements. The Department reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to deny access to the Social Media site to any individual who violates this Policy. Terms of Service
Each type of Social Media maintains a “Terms of Use” agreement. All comments posted to any Department Social Media Site are bound by these Terms of Use and the County reserves the right to report any user violation.
