06-24-14 Press Release - Supplemental Social Media Practices

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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