Social Media

 

Effective Date: 3/10/23

Latest Revised: 3/10/23

 

 

This policy provides the details on how web-based social media are designed, implemented, maintained, and monitored as a part of the larger communications strategy for the City of Longmont. This policy applies to all pre-existing and new social media accounts owned by or related to the City. The City reserves the right to modify, remove, or merge accounts without notice. The protocols of the City for social media are further detailed in this document.

 

 

In order to maintain consistency across the City’s digital presence, the City of Longmont defines social media and details administrative protocols for City-run accounts. All departments in the City of Longmont with a social media presence must follow the standard operating procedures outlined in this document. Longmont community members may also utilize this document to understand user expectations on social media as well as gain insight into the specific rules and guidelines to which the City adheres.

 

 

Social Media– Social media are websites and apps that foster and create social communities from one’s own personal circle, geographically connected people, or those who share similar interests.

 

Social-Networking Website– Social-Networking websites are communication platforms that registered users can utilize to share text, images, videos, polls, instant messaging, and other media with other users. Some popular social-networking websites include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and LinkedIn.

 

Blog– Blogs are websites that allow an author to share articles, stories, posts, images, and videos contained to a particular topic or subject. Blogs can be found on almost any website. An example is Longmont Power & Communications blog that is updated weekly.

 

Microblogging– Microblogging is a form of blogging that allows registered users to post short updates (280 characters or less) about themselves or a specific subject. X/Twitter could be considered a microblogging website due to its character limit within posts.

 

Discussion Forum– Discussion forums are online bulletin boards (also called group, board, forum, or message board) where a registered user can post a publicly available message to a large group and receive responses. Common discussion forums include Reddit and Quora.

 

Photo and Video-Sharing Website– Photo and video-sharing websites allow registered users store and share graphic and video media. Common photo/video sharing platforms include Flickr, Shutterbug, YouTube and Vimeo.

 

 

 

The City of Longmont is subject to the Colorado Open Records Act, C.R.S. § 24-72-201 et seq., and all comments and replies posted on any City social networking tool, blog, or page may be subject to disclosure. All information found on these pages or disseminated through a web application tool, like Twitter, are capable of being reprinted in newspapers, magazines, or online in any other web or web media format. Under CORA, digitally stored data is considered records and may be open for inspection by any person at reasonable times.

 

 

The City utilizes social media archiving technologies as it is allowed and able to do on a per account basis, except for those platforms that do not integrate with archiving technologies (E.g., Nextdoor, etc.). Social media records are retained for one year after posting.

 

 

The City’s social media accounts are limited public forums. The City does not make its social media accounts available for general public discourse (we do not allow the public to post directly to our accounts), but all posted content must relate to [the topic of the forum] and discussion of City programs, services, projects, issues, events, and activities.

 

 

The City does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of any information posted on the social media sites. The information on these pages is provided on an “as is” basis and users assume the risk of use or reliance on such information. The City assumes no liability for damages incurred, directly or indirectly, as a result of errors, omissions, or discrepancies on City social media sites. In addition, the City is not responsible for the content of, nor does it endorse, any site linked to or from any City social media sites, or comments or content posted by third parties.

 

 

The City relies on the social media platform’s internal moderation systems and tools to aid in monitoring City pages for profane, discriminatory, or lewd materials.

 

A social media platform may deem a comment or content posted by a member of the public violates the community standards that the platform has previously outlined. The platform will have the right to remove such a comment without notifying the City page organizers or the commenter. This process is outside of the City’s control.

 

If the City has a digital presence on a platform that eliminates or changes its internal content moderation processes, the appropriateness of the platform will be reevaluated. Ultimately, the Communications Director will determine if social media platform usage will be continued by the City. If the platform will no longer be used by the City in any capacity, the public will be notified and redirected to the appropriate resources at least two weeks before the account is shut down.

 

 

 

Copyrighted and other proprietary material should not be posted or submitted in any form unless permission to do so is clearly indicated. In posting comments or other work, a commenter grants the City of Longmont and anyone viewing the City of Longmont social media page irrevocable permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display, or perform the commenter’s work publicly and free-of-charge.

 

 

The City reserves the right to remove any messages or postings that are obscene, defamatory, involve fraud, incite violence or criminal conduct, or are in violation of the copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right of any third party. Furthermore, City reserves the right to remove any messages or postings that are unrelated to the topic of the forum. These include commercial promotions or purposes, and hyperlinks to material not directly related to the discussion.

 

The City will not be responsible for content posted by any subscriber in any forum, message board, or other area within the service.

 

 

The City shall not edit or delete posted information to its social media sites except as permitted below. Because communication via social media constitutes a limited public forum, the City reserves the right to reject or remove any content that it deems in violation of this policy or any applicable law.

 

These guidelines must be displayed on our City website to users and on social media sites in full or by hyperlink.

 

City social media posts and comments containing any of the following forms of content shall not be allowed for posting and shall be subject to removal:

 

• City staff created a post that contains inaccurate information and City staff are unable to edit it on the social media platform it was published on.
• Comments or content not topically related to the scope and context of the original post.
  Profane, defamatory, or obscene language or content.
• Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender identity, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation.
• Sexual content or links to sexual content.
• Commercial solicitations or promotions.
• Comments or content that may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems.
• Comments or content that harass or advocate harassment of another person or violates a crime victim’s rights.
• Content that contains personal identifying information or sensitive personal information.
• Comments or content that contain restricted or password-only access pages or hidden pages or images (not linked to or accessible from another page).
• Comments or content soliciting or designed to solicit passwords or personal identifying information.
• Comments or content that is private, personal, and other confidential or restricted information published without consent.
• Comments or content that are in violation of any federal, state, or local law.
• Comments or content that are in violation of the copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right or legal interest of any third party.