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<br />media can happen in accordance with the city's guidelines. For instance, an employee in charge of <br />using social media for snow emergency plowing notices might need to access the city social media <br />sites after normal hours and so may do so from home or from a web-enabled phone. When staff are <br />assigned to serve as the official voice and required to access social media after hours, the city <br />should consider what posting official city business from personal technology means in the context <br />ofthe city's records retention policies. It might make sense to encourage that any communications <br />related to official city business be retained in a separate file so that it is easy to produce all city- <br />related business information posted to social media should there be a request made under the <br />Minnesota Government Data Practices Act for all communication related to a particular topic. <br /> <br />It also would be helpful to provide etiquette guidelines for expected behavior by staff charged with <br />using social media on behalf of the city. Etiquette guidelines might include: <br /> <br />. Account Names. Social media account names should be clearly tied to the city so it is apparent <br />to visitors, friends and followers that they are choosing to receive information from the city. <br />For example, the city of Mosquito Heights would name its Facebook page "City of Mosquito <br />Heights," it's Twitter account "MosquitoHeights," and so on. <br /> <br />Staff charged with representing the city could be expected to clearly illustrate on their account <br />that they work for the city. This could be done by requiring all staff who use social media to <br />include a city-designated prefix on their account names, much like the conventions set up for <br />email years ago. For example, if John Doe, the public works director, is maintaining a public <br />works Facebook page for the city, the page might be named "Mosquito Heights Public Works <br />John Doe" and his Twitter account might be "MH-JohnDoe." Sally Deer, the clerk, might be <br />"Mosquito Heights Clerk Sally Deer" on Facebook and "MH-SallyDeer" on Twitter. Profile <br />information for pages maintained by designated staff should include staffs city job title, and <br />could include the city's web site address, street address, and other relevant information. <br /> <br />· Transparency. Personal opinions don't belong in an official city social media communication <br />unless the city has asked a person to share personal views and comments. If that's the case, the <br />person sharing his or her comments should clearly identify the comments as the poster's own <br />opinions, not those ofthe city. A good precautionary principle for the city and it's official <br />communicators to follow - regardless of the city policy on posting opinions - is that if you'd <br />be embarrassed to see your comment appear in the news, don't post it. <br /> <br />· Honesty. Individuals should be honest, straightforward and respectful while being mindful of <br />the need to maintain confidentiality and privacy when appropriate. Individuals should be sure <br />that efforts to be honest don't result in sharing non-public information related to coworkers, <br />personnel data, medical information, claims or lawsuits, or other non-public or confidential <br />information. Where questions exist, staff should consult with, their supervisor or city attorney. <br /> <br />. Mistakes. If an individual makes a factual mistake, they should correct it as soon as they are <br />aware of the error. Corrections should be upfront and as timely as possible. If the individual is <br />correcting a blog entry, the author may choose to modify an earlier post, and make it clear the <br />posting has been corrected. <br /> <br />Page 6 of 12 <br />