09-26-2012 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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media can happen in accordance with the city's guidelines. For instance, an employee in charge of using social media for snow emergency plowing notices might need to access the city social media sites after normal hours and so may do so from home or from a web - enabled phone. When staff are assigned to serve as the official voice and required to access social media after hours, the city should consider what posting official city business from personal technology means in the context of the city's records retention policies. It might make sense to encourage that any communications related to official city business be retained in a separate file so that it is easy to produce all city - related business information posted to social media should there be a request made under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act for all communication related to a particular topic. It also would be helpful to provide etiquette guidelines for expected behavior by staff charged with using social media on behalf' of the city. Etiquette guidelines might include: • Account Names. Social media account names should be clearly tied to the city so it is apparent to visitors, friends and followers that they are choosing to receive information from the city. For example, the city of Mosquito Heights would name its Facebook page "City of Mosquito Heights," it's Twitter account "Mosquitol-leights," and so on. Staff charged with representing the city could be expected to clearly illustrate on their account that they work for the city. This could be done by requiring all staff who use social media to include a city - designated prefix on their account names, much like the conventions set up for email years ago. For example, if John Doe, the public works director, is maintaining a public works Facebook page for the city, the page might be named "Mosquito Heights Public Works John Doe" and his Twitter account might be "MH- JohnDoe." Sally Deer, the clerk, might be "Mosquito Heights Clerk Sally Deer" on Facebook and "MH- SallyDeer" on Twitter. Profile information for pages maintained by designated staff should include staff's city job title, and could include the city's web site address, street address, and other relevant information. • Transparency. Personal opinions don't belong in an official city social media communication unless the city has asked a person to share personal views and comments. If that's the case, the person sharing his or her comments should clearly identify the comments as the poster's own opinions, not those of the city. A good precautionary principle for the city and it's official communicators to follow — regardless of the city policy on posting opinions — is that if you'd be embarrassed to see your comment appear in the news, don't post it. • Honesty. Individuals should be honest, straightforward and respectful while being mindful of the need to maintain confidentiality and privacy when appropriate. Individuals should be sure that efforts to be honest don't result in sharing non- public information related to coworkers, personnel data, medical information, claims or lawsuits, or other non- public or confidential information. Where questions exist, staff should consult with their supervisor or city attorney. • Mistakes. If an individual makes a factual mistake, they should correct it as soon as they are aware of the error. Corrections should be upfront and as timely as possible. If the individual is correcting a blog entry, the author may choose to modify an earlier post, and make it clear the posting has been corrected. Page 6of12 62