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160City of Anaheim Administrative Regulation CHAPTER 1— ADMINISTRATIVE Subject: Social Media Website Use A.R. 160 Issue Date: November 18, 2009 Page (1) of (4) Purpose: The purpose of this Administrative Regulation is to establish policies regarding the proper use of Social Media Websites by employees of the City who are authorized to post information or create pages (collectively, "post" or "posting"), on Social Media Websites on behalf of the City. "Social Media Websites" are those certain third -party websites not under the direct control and management of the City's technology system such as Facebook, My Space, Twitter, blogs, RSS (Rich Site Summary), YouTube, LinkedIn, Flicker etc. The City recognizes that Social Media Websites offer opportunities for the City to communicate with the community and perform public outreach while providing the public with instant access to City of Anaheim news and events. However, as with other interactive use of the Internet, posting information on Social Media Websites is not without risk. When posting on Social Media Websites on behalf of the City, employees are making statements that reflect on the City. Therefore, all posting by City departments and authorized employees that use Social Media Websites within the course and scope of their employment shall be done in accordance with the guidelines set forth below. Procedures: 1. General Provisions: a. The City's personnel policies, applicable administrative regulations and the Anaheim Municipal Code apply to all employees that engage in social networking activities while conducting City business. b. Only department heads, and employees authorized by department heads, are authorized to post on Social Media Websites on behalf of the City. c. Work done in connection with the Social Media Websites by non-exempt employees shall only be done during working hours. d. Any usage of Social Media Websites by any Department shall be approved, in advance, by the City Manager prior to posting any information or material on Social Media Websites. Consideration will be given to the overall nature and theme of the website, and its suitability for City use. e. Social Media Websites will generally be used by the City to instantly communicate with the public, via posting. Unless expressly authorized by the City Manager, postings on Social Media Websites that allow for public interactive responses to any City postings, will be managed in accordance with Section 3 of this document, entitled Interactive Posting Procedures. City of Anaheim Administrative Regulation 160 Page (2) of (4) 2. General Posting Procedures: Any and all web pages and information posted, or created, on behalf of the City must: a. Directly pertain to the City of Anaheim. b. Indicate that the posting is associated with the City and have the City contact information prominently displayed. c. Adhere to all applicable state, federal and local laws, rules, regulations and City policies including, but not limited to, copyright, fair use, anti -harassment, public records, document retention/destruction and technology use. d. Maintain content of posting for the required retention period in a format that preserves the integrity of the original record. Note however, if posts are copies of records already retained pursuant to the department retention schedule (i.e. links to publications, memos, and documents), then the post may be considered a secondary copy and retention is not necessary since the primary document/content is being retained according to the document retention schedule. e. Contain information that is freely available to the public and that is not proprietary or made confidential by City polices or any local, state or federal law. f. Not contain any personal information except the names of those employees whose job duties include being available for contact by the public. g. Not include language of a nature that is profane, sexually explicit, lewd, obscene, racial, political, discriminatory, illegal, insulting, expresses an opinion, or that would not be acceptable in the City workplace. h. Contain a disclaimer that the City does not: (i) endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, or services that may be displayed by third parties in conjunction with the Social Media Website; (ii) endorse, warrant, or guarantee the products, services, or information described or offered at any third party Internet sites; and (iii) guarantee the authenticity, accuracy, appropriateness or security of the link, website, or content linked thereto for any third party Internet site i. When applicable, provide a link to Anaheim Anytime for viewers to submit their questions or comments on City postings at Social Media Websites. 3. Interactive Posting Procedures: Allowing interactive, responsive posting from the public can be of great benefit to the City in that it can provide a channel for persons to ask questions of City staff as well as express their opinions. By engaging in an interactive process, however, consideration must be given to the fact that the City is opening a limited public forum to the public which is protected by the First Amendment. The key to maximizing the benefits of interactivity, while recognizing every person's free speech rights, is to provide useful guidance to persons wishing to post responses. Therefore, any webpage that permit responsive posts shall only be allowed if the City Manager has approved the webpage and authorized public comments via the Social Media Website. Any authorized webpage that allows for responsive posts shall be subject to the following conditions: a. The designated employee, as author of the webpage, in association with his or her department head, must create and provide notice of a response policy or disclaimer that will appear on the webpage and that is readily accessible and applicable to anyone wishing to post a response. b. The response policy must: i. make clear the purpose, scope and theme of the webpage; City of Anaheim Administrative Regulation 160 Page (3) of (4) ii. invite public comment within the confines of that purpose, scope or theme; iii. include a disclaimer that the City reserves the right to remove any content that is determined to either violate any law, rule or regulation or be unacceptable; iv. describe the kind of messages that are not acceptable including any posting that contains: 1. matters that are not topically related to the particular site or blog being commented on; 2. profane language or content; 3. content that promotes fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regards to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation; 4. sexual content or links to sexual content; 5. solicitation of commerce or commerce offers; 6. conduct or encouragement of illegal activity; 7. information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; 8. content that violates a legal ownership interest of any person or entity; 9. links to websites that are not within confines of the webpage's purpose or theme; 10. content that is illegal; or 11. content that violates any term, condition or policy of the website. c. The linked content of embedded hyperlinks shall be evaluated to determine if the content is acceptable prior to posting. Any posted hyperlinks shall be accompanied by a disclaimer stating that the City of Anaheim does not guarantee the authenticity, accuracy, appropriateness or security of the link, website, or content linked thereto. d. The designated employee shall at all times use his or her best judgment in deciding whether or not to respond to a post, avoid engaging any person posting, in an argumentative or offensive manner, and comply with all Sections of this regulation. e. The authorized employee assigned to manage the site shall be responsible to review the webpage and posts each work day to ensure compliance with the response policy. Employees assigned to manage the Social Media Website shall be trained regarding the terms of this regulation and their responsibilities to review content submitted for posting to ensure compliance with this regulation. f. The website must provide a mechanism for the employee to remove posts, or prevent posting of messages, that clearly violate the response policy. All posts that are deemed unsuitable for posting shall be retained pursuant to the applicable records retention schedule along with a description of the reason the specific content is deemed not suitable for posting. g. All entries on Social Media Websites created by the City shall clearly indicate that any content posted or submitted for posting is subject to public disclosure. h. Any Public Records Act request received in a responsive posting shall be handled in accordance with City policies. 4. Each employee designated by a department head to post on a social networking website shall review, be familiar with, and comply with the website's use policies and terms and conditions. City of Anaheim Administrative Regulation 160 Page (4) of (4) Many social networking websites include advertising material on pages containing personal postings. Accordingly, it is important to be aware that City of Anaheim information may be posted so as to be readable concurrently with commercial advertising. Except as expressly provided in this Administrative Regulation, accessing any Social Media Websites shall otherwise comply with all applicable policies of the City of Anaheim pertaining to use of the Internet by employees, including email content (see AR 155). Responsibility: It is the responsibility of the Department Head to ensure all authorized users of Social Media Websites on behalf of the City follow the guidelines established. This Administrative Regulation shall be complied with in all respects. Revisions to this Administrative Regulation may occur and every attempt will be made to provide prior notice of any such change. However, when deemed necessary in order to fully protect the City's interests, the interests of the public, and to more fully protect the safety of the public, including employees governed by this Administrative Regulation, then this Administrative Regulation may be changed without notice. Prior to posting on any Social Networking Website, each employee shall sign an acknowledgement of receipt of this Administrative Regulation indicating that he or she has read and understands all of its provisions, and agrees to be bound by the same.