Social Media Policy

POLICY OBJECTIVE

This policy aims to ensure the proper use of the City's social networking sites and technologies. This Policy establishes guidelines for using social media. It is intended to apply to social media sites including, but not limited to, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, NextDoor, and other similar websites, as well as blogging and other internet-based media sites. As the need and technologies evolve, other hosting sites may be used as approved.

A. The goals of the City of Titusville-sponsored social networking sites are as follows:

B. To provide the policy and procedures for developing applications and providing content on external web applications and social media platforms to ensure consistency with our City brand and content;

C. To communicate with a broader audience to promote the value and importance of the City's programs, policies, and services among government officials, civic leaders, and the public;

D. To maintain open, professional, and responsive communications with members of the public and news media;

E. To increase communications in the event of emergencies.

NOTE: This policy does not apply to City employees' personal social media sites. Administrative Policy 3.4 Guidelines for Use of Non-City Social Media addresses such use.

POLICY PROCEDURE

A. Social Media for Informational Purposes Only

1. If the user wishes to contact the City regarding city services, they should visit the City's official website at .

2. City personnel should primarily use Titusville.com and consider any social media site a secondary means of public dissemination of information.

3. Should any City social media site invite public content, special care must be taken. (See F, below, Moderating Public Comments.)

4. Official city social media postings should be:

  • a. Relevant: Information that helps residents and pertains to their daily lives;
  • b. Timely: Information about deadlines, upcoming events, news, or current events;
  • c. Actionable: Information to register, attend, or monitor.

B. Management of City Social Media Sites

1. The City of Titusville Community Relations Division is responsible for the City's social media administration, including but not limited to blogs, wikis, video sharing, message boards, open forums, business pages, and social networking sites.

2. All department and city-related social media pages must be approved before an account may be initiated or created. Requests for approval shall contain a summary of the account's intended content and should be submitted to the City Manager's office by the requesting department head. Approval shall be provided in writing by the City Manager or his designee, and the specific social media platform(s) to be used by designated authors should be identified.

3. Each authorized user of an approved social media app must first review and then adhere to this policy.

4. Additional duties of those responsible for City social media sites:

  • a. Maintain the page, including the look and feel (branding) and applicable pages for a comment policy;
  • b. Review each post for policy and legal issues;
  • c. Any other editing will be secondary, essentially only to correct spelling or grammatical errors if necessary;
  • d. Coordinate review with the city attorney's office for legal issues;
  • e. Uploading and monitoring posts (see F. Moderating Public Comments).

C. Ownership

All social media communication composed, sent, or received on the City's equipment, used in official City business, or representing the City of Titusville are the property of the City of Titusville, Florida, and are subject to public records laws. The City reserves the right not to publish any posting or to remove it at any point. Postings removed will still be subject to public records laws.

D. Posted Material is a Public Record

1. See also Administrative Policy 2-9 Public Records Policy.

2. All Posted material is subject to the public records retention laws, Ch. 119, F.S., as may be amended from time to time, and shall be captured for retention. 

3. All social media pages must indicate that any post is subject to public records disclosure.

4. The City Manager or Community Relations shall designate the method(s) for capturing public records.

5. City elected officials shall not engage in online discussions concerning matters that may come before them for City Council action. Citizen advisory board members shall not engage in online discussions relating to matters that may come before them on their board.

E. Posting Guidelines

1. Violation of these guidelines may subject you to loss of social media privileges, disciplinary action, or civil or criminal prosecution.

2. Prohibited language: Defaming, harassing, threatening, or otherwise violating the legal rights of others, including their privacy; misrepresenting one's person, background, or character; defamatory, infringing, obscene, false, or unlawful material; selling, advertising, or exchanging goods or services unless expressly allowed; copyrighted material owned by a third party; providing unnecessary personal or contact information. Inappropriate material will be removed, and the posting employee may be subject to discipline in accordance with City personnel policies.

3. Language with potential disciplinary, criminal, or civil penalties to include:

  • a. Personally sensitive information (See also Administrative Policy 3-2 Safeguarding Employee Personally Identifiable Information);
  • b. Home addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, dates of birth, and photographs, medical information of current or former sworn police officers; certified firefighters; human resource directors, assistant directors, managers, or assistant managers whose duties include hiring and firing, labor negotiations, or other personnel-related duties; current or former code enforcement officers (Florida Statutes 119.071(4)).
  • c. Medical information violating a person's Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIP AA) protections;
  • d. Violations of the Public Records "Sunshine" law;
  • e. Libelous, slanderous, or demeaning remarks;
  • f. Revealing information about ongoing investigations, litigation, cases, or names of individuals involved;
  • g. Violation of copyright laws.

4. Postings must not contradict or encourage defiance or misuse of City of Titusville directions, guidance, or other official information.

5. When using the City's social networking sites, employees will

  • a. Identify themselves by name and as an employee of the City of Titusville;
  • b. Use appropriate and considerate language, remembering that postings reflect upon the writer, elected officials of the City, and other City employees;
  • c. Refrain from ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or other language that would not be acceptable in the City workplace;
  • d. Do not provide confidential or proprietary information that could compromise ongoing negotiations or information about the practices of business partners or their competitors.

F. Moderating Public Comments

1. Should comments from the public be permitted on a City social media site, those comments must be reviewed and deleted if they violate the following policies, which shall be published on any site permitting public comment:

"We welcome your comments and hope our conversations here will be courteous. You are fully responsible for the content of your comments. We do not discriminate against any views, but we reserve the right to delete any of the following: in general, comments that are abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, violent in nature, in violation of copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right of any third party; false statements, solicitations, advertisements, spam, or endorsements of any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency; multiple successive off-topic posts by a single user, or posts which are otherwise inappropriate or incorrect will be removed."

2. Where allowed, the following notice must be published on any site permitting public comment:

"Under Florida Law, email addresses are Public Records. Do not send electronic mail to this entity if you do not want your e-mail address released in response to public record requests. Instead, contact the City by phone or in writing."

3. The designated employee from the posting department shall regularly monitor their respective site for policy violations.

G. Links to Non-City Social Media Sites

1. To meet its purpose, a city's social media site may contain links to other networking sites or websites not owned or controlled by the city. The City specifically disavows legal responsibility for what a user may find or post on another site.

2. Links initiated by a City site must be approved by the Supervisor of Community Relations before they are established.

3. Permitted links: 

  • a. State, regional, local, or federal government agencies, special purpose districts, hospitals, scientific or cultural organizations, and public educational institutions;
  • b. Human service organizations that receive direct support from the City of Titusville;
  • c. Festivals and events open to the public and sponsored or co-sponsored by the City.

4. Links not permitted:

  • a. Sites strictly political or religious in nature;
  • b. Sites containing inappropriate material;
  • c. Sites not relevant to the City's mission or services.

5. Disclaimers

  • a. direct links should not be construed as an endorsement or sponsorship of these external sites, their content, or their hosts and should be disclaimed as such whenever possible. The City specifically disavows legal responsibility for what a user may find on another site, whether operated by the City. The views and opinions of the authors of documents published on or linked to the City's social networking pages do not necessarily state or reflect the City's opinion, policy, or position. The city is not responsible for any linked external site's content, quality, accuracy, or completeness, nor is it liable for any inaccurate, defamatory, offensive, or illegal materials found on a linked site.
  • b. The City of Titusville is not responsible for the content, quality, accuracy, or completeness of any offsite materials referenced or linked through the City's Social Networking Pages. By using the City's social networking pages, the user acknowledges and accepts the risk of injury or damage from viewing, hearing, downloading, or storing such materials rests entirely with the user and that the City is not responsible for any materials stored on other social networking sites or websites, nor is it liable for any inaccurate, defamatory, offensive, or illegal materials found on them.
  • c. The City does not endorse any content, viewpoint, products, or services linked from its social networking sites. It shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on such information's accuracy, reliability, or timeliness. The City does not warrant the accuracy or reliability of or endorse any products or service providers listed or linked to its site.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENFORCEMENT

Responsibility for enforcing these regulations lies with the Division of Community Relations.