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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-24-14 Press Release - Supplemental Social Media Practices Common , j Sth 1 i 1 NEWS RELEASE Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2014 .. From: Council Member Tim Scot Contact: 538-1936 Information and Technology Committee Chairperson Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines Proposed Connecting via social media with residents, business owners, and individuals wishing to learn more about South Bend is not only valuable but a critical means of communication, as we work together to move our city forward. However, the risks are many, especially when the lines become blurred between what is considered public or private, personal or professional. Ever since early 2013 when individual Council Members began using Ipads, there have been policies and procedures in place which address city-owned technologies and Council Facebook Standards. In light of the ever-evolving social media technology, it is apparent that supplemental social media practices and guidelines are needed so that everyone understands their responsibilities when they embrace such technologies. I have therefore drafted and am recommending twenty-five (25) supplemental guidelines. They are written in a format which is used by many Fortune 500 companies. Topics addressed include such items as: take responsibility; assume everything you write online will become public; be honest and straightforward; think before you post; integrity IS a core value; be transparent; always be respect; know the rules; and embracing social media is a risk-based decision —just to highlight a few key topics. These guidelines attempt to incorporate"best practices"throughout. These guidelines have had the input from the City Administration's IT Division, and are now being circulated to all members of the South Bend Common Council, the, Department of Law and to our Deputy Mayor Mark Neal for review and comment. Ideally, the best local practice would be to have city-wide policies so that all individuals working for the City of South Bend have the opportunity to know what is expected of each of them. Ongoing training as upgrades and technology changes should also be a priority. In this way, the pitfalls and unexpected or unintended consequences related to the use of social media, can hopefully be avoided. The Information and Technology Committee will soon take action on these policies; and I will continue to work toward the goal of city-wide social media policies. 1 � o- r i South Bend Common Council Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines Policy # 03-2014 Effective Immediately: 2014 To: The South Bend Common Council From: Council Member Tim Scott, Information and Technology Committee Chairperson Background: On January 16, 2013, Policy # 01-2013 was issued governing "Interim Policies and Procedures Addressing City-Owned Technologies". Those two (2)pages of policies and procedures remain in effect today. On February 1, 2013, Policy # 02-2013 was issued governing "Interim Policies and Procedures Addressing Council Facebook Standards". Those five (5)pages of policies and procedures remain in effect today. Policy # 03-2014 addressing "Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines" is aimed at providing additional guidance to members of the South Bend Common Council, which are in addition to the current policies and procedures referenced above, which are on file in the Office of the City Clerk. Social Media: The many forms of social media are ever-changing. Social media content is fleeting because updates compete for attention in personal social media news streams. As a result, Council social media sites need to be clear, precise and be compliant with industry best practices, especially when posting updates. It was recently noted that: 'Social media is a two-edged sword, and once you press the 'send' or post' button, there is no going back...", "Social Media: Perils and Payoffs for Public Officials,Albuquerque Bar Quarterly Journal,December 9,2013. We will continue to develop policies and procedures which reflect "best practices" as we work with the City Administration in formalizing city-wide social media policies, which will govern all elected officials and city employees. These guidelines are provided in a format used by many Fortune 500 companies to address this rapidly changing media. These guidelines should guide your participation both personally, as well as when you are acting in your official elected capacity as an elected public official. Always be smart, use sound judgment and common sense. We will continue to update and improve these guidelines, so that they continually reflect "best practices". City-wide training through online learning portals are being pursued so that ongoing updates can be offered as social media continues to evolve. Our expectations, as well as the public's, is to always strive for excellence,especially since your posts become permanent. Recommended Practices and Guidelines: 1. Take responsibility — Know and follow City and Council policies when you decide to participate in conversation about Council or city content. Always take responsibility for the conversation(s) you start. Always respect your audience. South Bend Common Council Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines Page 2 of 6 Policy# 03-2014 2. Identity, signature and Timestamp — As per the current social media policy, all Council Members must identify yourself and sign their post or at a minimum leave their initials to the Common Council Facebook page or any other authorized social media established by the Council. Council Members must identify themselves and make clear from whom any social media statement is originating. Council posts should clearly show when the information was published; and if the form of social media does not automatically include a time stamp, you should then use a template such as "06/06/14, 1:33 p.m. (message here)". 3. PhotoNideo Release Form and Use of Images —When posting images to social media, be sure copyright laws are not being violated. Do not simply search the Internet for an image and use it because that may violate the law. Never ever post any photo/video/image which would be considered obscene. 4. Disclaimer — If you post public content online which may be relevant to the City, you should always make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of the City. Consider including a statement like "The views expressed on this site (or in this post) are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions of the city, its positions, strategies or opinions". 5. Compliance with Related Polices & Laws — Each Council Member who decides to use social media is responsible for complying with all applicable federal, state, county and city laws, regulations and policies. Respect copyright laws and proprietary information, as well as logos and trademarks and only use them if you have the authority to do so. 6. Emergencies and Official City Business — For official statements published by the City of South Bend and during all emergencies, all social media content and postings must be coordinated with the City of South Bend Director of Communications, as part of its Emergency Support Function. Depending on the incident/declared emergency, publishers may be directed to point to special social media sites that will serve as the main source(s) of information, which may be directed by the Emergency Management Agency. Please Facebook Share or retweet Council or City information to fans/followers as needed. This is the best method to ensure message accuracy and consistency. 7. Assume everything you write on line will become public — With Facebook's evolving privacy settings, there is real danger in thinking something is private when it's accessible to third-party sites. Always operate on the assumption that everything is visible to everyone. As a rule of thumb,just make sure you log out of Facebook when you shut down your computer [to prevent hackers from taking over your account and posting something in your name that could be embarrassing]. Always monitor what other people post to your page. It's often these thing that causes people to trip up. Monitor what photos people tag you in also. The same guidelines South Bend Common Council Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines Page 3 of 6 Policy# 03-2014 apply to other social networks as well, such as Foursquare, Digg and Yahoo Buzz. Just as politicians learn, to their regret, that they should always assume that the mic is live, we should always assume that we are always on. 8. Post Only What YOU Know — Make sure that what you post regarding official City business falls into your specific area of expertise. Don't post anything about City business that you are not involve in and never post anything which is confidential. There are too many opportunities for misperceptions to be created if you post on subjects that you aren't completely familiar with the details. Link to sources for facts or statements you reference, and encourage others to do likewise, rather than state your opinion. Posts should be informative and based on real facts which can be verified. While widely disseminated and reported, material gathered online can be just as inaccurate or untrustworthy as some material collected or received in more traditional ways. As always, consider and verify your sources BEFORE posting. Content gathered online is subject to the same attribution rules as other content. By sticking to the facts, you will be seen as an unbiased, trusted source of information on City business. Always review content for grammatical and spelling errors. Make sure that you are complying with settings which require approval for all posts from other people on your page, as well as approval for all photos that you are tagged in before, if it actually includes your tag. 9. Attribution — If you wish to publish an interesting email or other message you have received from a reader, you must be clear in your post that the email or message is from another person and that the words are not your own. You must also check the accuracy of the comment because YOU are responsible for the accuracy of comments you personally republish with permission or attribute the source when republishing. 10. Be Honest and Straightforward — All posts should be accurate and should avoid being misleading in any way. Present information in posts as simply as possible. Posts that are brief and to the point leave less room for misinterpretation. If you happen to post information that misses the mark, be quick to point it out and correct it. 11. Think before you post—One of the reported secrets to social media's success is how easy it has become to participate. But that also makes it easy to respond or repeat before you have thought through potential consequences. Whether we think it fair or not, other media will use your social media output. Always be CAUTIOUS. If you are about to post information that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, take time to pause and think about it. Be smart about protecting sensitive and/or confidential city information, as well as your own privacy concerns. Remember that what is posted via social media is widely accessible, not easily retractable, subject to scrutiny, and will be around for a long time. Check with the City's Law Department on what can be legally shared as official information from the city. South Bend Common Council Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines Page 4 of 6 Poliev # 03-2014 12. Encourage readers to contribute - Multiple perspectives, additional knowledge and expertise should be welcomed. Acknowledge their additions. Focus on the constructive by recognizing and rewarding intelligent contributions. 13. Resisting temptation —Always resist the temptation to respond to those you regard as mistaken or ill-tempered. Spirited discussion is encouraged but always be respectful of others. 14. Don't reward disruptive behavior — Don't reward disruptive behavior with attention. Don't engage in any impolite dialogue with those who may challenge you or your work — no matter how rude or provocative they may seem. 15. Avoid defamatory personal attacks — Posting should not include defamatory personal attacks of any type. Particular care should be taken in responding to posts critical of specific news coverage or personal attacks of specific Council Members. 16. Participation and endorsements — Your simple participation in some online groups could be seen to indicate that you endorse their views. Consider whether you can accomplish your purposes by just observing a group's activity, rather than becoming a member or"liking" a page which the public can see what pages you like. 17. Quickly admit when you're wrong — We all know that mistakes happen. Ben Franklin once said "How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them". That was true back then and remains true today. Council Members are responsible for being transparent and open about their mistakes. They should also be quick to proffer new information that challenges or burnishes what they have posted on a site. Do not repeat the error, ever. If you realize it much later, issue a correction. Don't try to hide the error by deleting the original message and then reissuing the news. Many Twitter clients, for example, download tweets and store them on user's computers or hand-held devices, so they won't be deleted from someone's stream even if you delete the tweet. The same applies for Facebook. 18. Integrity IS a core value — Our ethical principles do not change, even as we work across multiple platforms and in differing media. The standards that guide our behavior as Council Members, including all of the regulations in chapter 2 of the City Code apply online, as they do offline. Social networks, blogs, instant messaging and online forums provide valuable links to the world around us; they enable us to strengthen our relationships with residents and business; and serve as an outlet to promote and distribute our work. South Bend Common Council Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines Page 5 of 6 Policy# 03-2014 19. Public and Private life — Whether we like it or not, assume that your life as an elected public official and your personal life will merge online, regardless of your care in separating them. We can learn from the publication Guidelines for Secure Use of Social Media by Federal Departments and Agencies, prepared by the Information and Security and Identity Management Committee (ISIMC), Network and Infrastructure Security Subcommittee (NISSC) and the Web 2.0 Security Working Group (W20SEG) (p. 6, 2009) which noted that when you decide to embrace social media technology, risk mitigation should include policies which "...focus on user behavior, both personal and professional'. 20. Consequences — Remember that your actions online reflect on your integrity as a Council Member, the entire Common Council, and the City of South Bend. 21. Be transparent — Declare personal interest when applicable. Be transparent about your affiliations, perspectives or previous coverage of a particular topic or individual. 22. Always be respectful — Understand that content contributed to a social media site could encourage comments or discussion of opposing ideas. Responses should be considered carefully in light of how they would reflect on the Common Council, the City of South Bend, and its overall voice as the 4`h largest municipality in the state of Indiana. 23. Know the rules — Make sure that what you post complies with the Common Council and/or the City of South Bend's social media policies, procedures and guidelines, as well as all other applicable laws, rules and regulations. If you have questions about using social media, check with the Council's "Public Information Officer (PIO)" who oversees the Council Policy # 2- 2013, or the City's PIO. Remember that whatever you post to social media sites is ultimately your responsibility. 24. Responsibility and Consequences — Because social media and the digital landscape are continuing to change rapidly, it is impossible to (write a policy that anticipates) anticipates the challenges, questions and issues that could be posed by new tools which emerge or evolve in the future. When you face such challenges or questions, it's always best to discuss them with the PIO. Remember that once a post is made there will be consequences, so always be smart, use good judgment and common sense. Embracing social media is a risk-based decision - We can again learn from the publication Guidelines for Secure Use of Social Media by Federal Departments and Agencies, prepared by the Information and Security and Identity Management Committee(ISIMC), Network and South Bend Common Council Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines Page 6 of 6 Policy# 03-2014 25. Infrastructure Security Subcommittee (NISSC) and the Web 2.0 Security Working Group (W20SEG) (p. 6, 2009): "The decision to embrace social media technology is a risk-based decision, not a technology-based decision...in order to defend against rapidly evolving social media threats, departments and agencies should include a multi-layered approach in a risk management program, including risks to the individual, risks to the department or agency, and risks to the federal infrastructure". The same principles apply to the City of South Bend. These Supplemental Social Media Practices and Guidelines have been circulated to the City's IT Division of the Department of Administration and Finance who helped provide technical and key guidance. They are now being circulated to members of the South Bend Common Council and the City's Law Department for review and comment. I will soon be calling a meeting of the Council's Information and Technology Committee for discussion as the next step in developing supplemental social media policies, including enforcement of these policies. Respectfully s fitted, Council Member Tim Scott, Chairperson Information and Technology Committee South Bend Common Council