Social Media Policy
CITY OF RICHLAND CENTER Social Media Policy
1. Purpose.
This Policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use by the City of Richland Center (the “City”) of Social Media as a means of conveying information about the City and its events and activities to its citizens.
a. The City of Richland Center has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is “spoken” on behalf of the City through the use of Social Media.
b. For purposes of this policy, the terms “Social Media” and “Social Media Sites” are understood to be content created by individuals, organizations and/or entities, using accessible, expandable, and upgradable publishing technologies, through and on the Internet. Examples of Social Media that may be used by the City include, but are not limited to Facebook, blogs, RSS, YouTube Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Nextdoor, and Flicker. For purposes of this Policy, “comments” include information, articles, pictures, videos or any other form of communicative content posted on Social Media Sites.
2. General Policy.
The establishment and use by any City department of City Social Media sites are subject to approval by the City Administrator or his/her designees. Use of Social Media shall be administered by the City Administrator and any Department-designated coordinator, as described in this Policy. In approving the use of a City Social Media site, the City Administrator, in coordination with any Department as may be necessary, shall establish guidelines for the use of the site, including but not limited to the following information:
a. The purpose of the site, which may include the dissemination of general information about the City or the dissemination of information regarding a specific City Department or City Activity, Event or Project.
b. What City department will be directly responsible for monitoring of, and creation of content on, the site.
i. City Social Media Sites should make clear that they are maintained by the City of Richland Center and that they follow this Social Media Policy.
ii. To the extent possible, the use of Social Media will link back to the City’s website for forms, documents, online services and other information necessary to conduct business with or utilize the services of the City.
iii. The City of Richland Center’s website at https://www.richlandcenterwi.gov will
remain the City’s primary and predominant Internet presence.
iv. This Policy may be revised at any time.
3. Comment Policy.
As a public entity, the City must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
a. The intended purpose behind establishing a Social Media presence is to disseminate information to residents of the City of Richland Center.
b. Comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the City’s Administration Office:
i. Comments not related to the business of the City, including random or unintelligible comments;
ii. Violent, or pornographic content and/or language;
iii. Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or national origin;
iv. Threaten or defame any person or organization;
v. Content that is hateful or incites violence;
vi. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
vii. Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law;
viii. Encouragement of illegal activity;
ix. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; or
x. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party.
xi. Comments in support of or in opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures.
c. The above listed inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted and are subject to removal and/or restriction on public comment forums, such as “OpenGov,” (i.e., Open City Hall). These City-supported platforms are intended to encourage active dialogue but are closely monitored for civility and do not create a designated public forum. Such platforms are run by private, non-partisan companies. Participation is strictly voluntary.
d. All users of a City of Richland Center social media site are also subject to the site’s own privacy policy. The City of Richland Center has no control over a third-party site’s privacy policy page unless otherwise stated. The City of Richland Center has no control over content, commercial advertisements or other postings produced by the Social Media site that appear on the City of Richland Center Social Media site as part of the site’s environment.
e. The City of Richland Center operates and maintains it Social Media sites as a public service to provide information about City programs, services, projects, issues, events and activities. The City of Richland Center assumes no liabilities for any inaccuracies these Social Media sites may contain and does not guarantee that the Social Media sites will be uninterrupted, permanent or error-free.
f. Although posts and comments are encouraged on the City of Richland Center Social Media sites that allow posts, these sites are limited public forums and moderated by City Staff. All posted content (comments, links, photos, etc.) must be related to discussion of City programs, services, projects, issues, events, and activities.
g. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by the Administration Office for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date, and identity of the poster, when available.
i. A comment posted by a member of the public on a 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 Richland Center or the Department, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City of Richland Center or the Department.
ii. The City reserves the right to deny access to the Social Media site for any individual, who violates this Policy, at any time and without prior notice.
iii. The Department responsible for the implementation of the Social Media site shall monitor the respective site for comments requesting responses from the City and for comments in violation of this policy.
i. When a City of Richland Center employee comments or responds to a comment, in his/her capacity as a City of Richland Center employee, said comments or responses shall be made only from an official account established by the City for such purposes. No City of Richland Center employee making comments or responses in his or her capacity as a City of Richland Center employee shall share personal information about himself or herself, or other City employees.
ii. All posts and comments are public records subject to public disclosure under the Public Records Act and Proposition 59.
4. Use of Social Media Sites to Disseminate and/or Gather Information Regarding a Specific City Department or City Activity/Event/Project.
In addition to the general provisions of this Policy, the following provisions shall apply to the City’s use of Social Media to establish an internet presence relating to a particular Department or City Activity/Event/Project:
a. A Department-designated coordinator will monitor content on Department-specific or City Activity/Event/Project-specific Social Media sites to ensure adherence to this Policy.
b. The Department-designated coordinator will advise the Administration Office staff of any concerns regarding content or comments. The Administration Office will advise the Department-designated coordinator whether or not the content or comment should be removed.
c. The City reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this Policy or any applicable law. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by the Department's coordinator for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available. The Department shall follow any applicable requirements of the City's document retention policy for retaining content.
d. The City’s content requirements must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.
e. The Social Media pages shall adhere to applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
f. Comments on topics or issues not relating to the Department or the City Activity/Event/Project that is the subject of a particular Social Media page may be removed.
g. Employees representing the City government on the respective Social Media page must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the City and in accordance with all City policies.
h. Communications made through the City of Richland Center Social Media sites in no way constitute legal notice or official notice or comment to the City of Richland Center. To comment about a specific City project or program, please contact the appropriate department.
5. Copyright Policy
Material made available via official City of Richland Center Social Media sites is the property of the City of Richland Center and intended for informational purposes only. Any re-use, transmission, duplication, or distribution of any material found on an official City of Richland Center Social Media site must be clearly attributed to the City of Richland Center. Commercial use of copyrighted materials found on City of Richland Center Social Media sites is expressly prohibited without express written consent of the City of Richland Center. Any and all trademarked or copyrighted logos or taglines may not be used for any non-governmental purpose.
Approved by the Personnel Committee 4/24/2023.
