City of Florence

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
This policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use by the City of Florence of social media sites (including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) as a means of conveying City of Florence (“City”) information to its citizens.
The intended purpose behind establishing City of Florence social media sites is to disseminate information from the City, about the City, to its citizens.
The City of Florence has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is “spoken” on behalf of the City on City social media sites.
For purposes of this policy, “social media” is understood to be content created by individuals, using accessible, expandable, and upgradable publishing technologies, through and on the Internet. Examples of social media include Facebook, blogs, MySpace, Instagram, RSS, YouTube, Second Life, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flicker. For purposes of this policy, “comments” include information, articles, pictures, videos or any other form of communicative content posted on a City of Florence social media site.
General Policy
1. The establishment and use by any City department of City social media sites are subject to approval by the City of Florence Information Technology (IT) Manager or his/her designees. All City of Florence social media sites shall be administered by City of Florence IT staff.
2. City social media sites should make clear that they are maintained by the City of Florence and that they follow the City’s Social Media Policy.
3. Wherever possible, City social media sites should link back to the official City of Florence website for forms, documents, online services and other information necessary to conduct business with the City of Florence.
4. The IT staff will monitor content on City social media sites to ensure adherence to both the City’s Social Media Policy and the interest and goals of the City of Florence.
5. The City 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 IT department for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available.
6. These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.
7. The City will approach the use of social media tools as consistently as possible, enterprise wide.
8. The City of Florence’s website at will remain the City’s primary and predominant internet presence.
9. All City social media sites shall adhere to applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies.
10. City social media sites are subject to the Alabama Public Records Law. Any content maintained in a social media format that is related to City business, including a list of subscribers, posted communication, and communication submitted for posting, may be a public record subject to public disclosure.
11. Comments on topics or issues not within the jurisdictional purview of the City of Florence may be removed.
12. Employees representing the City government via City social media sites must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the City and in accordance with all City policies.
13. This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time.
Comment Policy
1. As a public entity the City must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
2. The intended purpose behind establishing City of Florence social media sites is to disseminate information from the City, about the City, to its citizens.
3. Comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted on City of Florence social media sites and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the IT Manager or his/her designees:
a. Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments;
b. Profane, obscene, violent, or pornographic content and/or language;
c. Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, or national origin;
d. Defamatory or personal attacks;
e. Threats to any person or organization;
f. Comments in support of, or in opposition to, any political campaigns or ballot measures;
g. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
h. Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law;
i. Encouragement of illegal activity;
j. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; or
k. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party.
4. A comment posted by a member of the public on any City of Florence 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, the City of Florence, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City of Florence.
5. The City of Florence reserves the right to deny access to City of Florence social media sites for any individual, who violates the City of Florence’s Social Media Policy, at any time and without prior notice.
6. Departments shall monitor their social media sites for comments requesting responses from the City and for comments in violation of this policy.
7. When a City of Florence employee responds to a comment, in his/her capacity as a City of Florence employee, the employee’s name and title should be made available, and the employee shall not share personal information about himself or herself, or other City employees.
8. All comments posted to any City of Florence’s Facebook site are bound by Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, located at , and the City of Florence 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.

Note: The opinions expressed on this page are not necessarily those of the City of Florence or its employees. The City of Florence reserves the right to remove obscenities, off-topic comments, and personal attacks.