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Social Media Policy

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This policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use by the City of Fullerton of social media sites (including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter) as a means of conveying City of Fullerton (“City”) information to its citizens.

The intended purpose behind establishing City of Fullerton social media sites is to disseminate information from the City, about the City, to its citizens. The City of Fullerton 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, RSS, YouTube, Second Life, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious, 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 Fullerton 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 Manager or his/her designees. All City of Fullerton social media sites shall be administered by City of Fullerton Information Technology (“IT”) staff.
  2. City social media sites should make clear that they are maintained by the City of Fullerton 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 Fullerton website for forms, documents, online services and other information necessary to conduct business with the City of Fullerton.
  4. The Public Information Coordinator 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 Fullerton.
  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 Public Information Coordinator 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 Fullerton’s website at www.CityofFullerton.com 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 California Public Records Act. 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. 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.
  12. This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time.
  13. Comments on topics or issues not within the jurisdictional purview of the City of Fullerton may be removed.
  14. The City does not endorse any links or advertisements that may show up on this Facebook page.

Comment Policy

By posting or commenting on the City of Fullerton’s Facebook page, or other City of Fullerton social media, you agree to the terms of use of the City of Fullerton’s social media comment policy as provided herein.

  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 City of Fullerton Facebook page is intended to be “family friendly,” so please keep your comments clean by following these simple rules. In addition to keeping it family friendly, we require that you follow our posting guidelines here. Please note that we utilize Facebook’s automatic content filtering feature. All City of Fullerton social media content is subject to monitoring.
  3. The intended purpose behind establishing City of Fullerton social media sites is to disseminate information from the City, about the City, to its citizens.
  4. Comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted on City of Fullerton social media sites and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the Public Information Coordinator or his/her designees:
    1. Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments; Profane, obscene, violent, or pornographic content and/or language;
    2. Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, or national origin;
    3. Defamatory or personal attacks;
    4. Threats to any person or organization;
    5. Comments in support of, or in opposition to, any political campaigns or ballot measures;
    6. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
    7. Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law;
    8. Encouragement of illegal activity;
    9. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; or
    10. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party.
    11. Harassment or content which constitutes and/or facilitates stalking;
    12. Content which violates the right to privacy;
    13. Encouragement of violence;
    14. Repetitive content;
    15. Comments which may reasonably interfere with, inhibit, or compromise law enforcement investigations, police tactics, police responses to incidents and/or the safety of police staff and officers;
    16. Posts or comments that contain any external links.
  5. A comment posted by a member of the public on any City of Fullerton 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 Fullerton, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City of Fullerton.
  6. The City of Fullerton reserves the right to deny access to City of Fullerton social media sites for any individual, who violates the City of Fullerton’s Social Media Policy, at any time and without prior notice.
  7. Comments posted to this page will be monitored and inappropriate content as defined above will be removed as soon as possible and without prior notice. Please note, comments posted to this page are monitored and our Facebook setting will automatically hide a comment if profanity is used within the post.
  8. If you need to contact the Fullerton Police Department, please call their front desk at (714) 738-6700, or if it is an emergency, call 911 and ask for assistance. While comments posted on the City’s Facebook page are monitored, posting a comment is neither the recommended nor best way to contact the City or Fullerton Police Department.
  9. Departments shall monitor their social media sites for comments requesting responses from the City and for comments in violation of this policy.
  10. When a City of Fullerton employee responds to a comment, in his/her capacity as a City of Fullerton 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.
  11. All comments posted to any City of Fullerton Facebook site are bound by Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Community Standards, located at www.facebook.com/terms.php, and www.facebook.com/communitystandards, respectfully. The City of Fullerton reserves the right to report any violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and/or Community Standards to Facebook with the intent of Facebook taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.
  12. By posting or commenting on the City of Fullerton social media platforms you agree to our terms of use. You participate by your own choice, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username and any information you provide therein.