Memorandum 15-052 Social Media Policy, Website Terms and Conditions, Links Policy and Website Upgrade

Memorandum 15-052

TO:                       Mayor Wythe and Homer City Council

FROM:                 Katie Koester, City Manager

DATE:                  April 22, 2015

SUBJECT:         Communications Enhancements: Social Media Policy, Website Terms and Conditions, Links Policy and Website Upgrades.

The purpose of this memo is to provide background for Ordinance 15-12 and Resolutions 15-025, 15-026, and 15-027.

A number of departments have been asking to use social media for outreach and communication with the public (some departments, like the Library, already have an active social media presence). Though social media use is prevalent in the private sector and personal use, government has approached it with trepidation while issues like how to maintain public records and the balancing act of preventing the posting of inappropriate content without infringing on people’s rights are sorted out.  Nevertheless, social media is here to stay and there are many advantages to using this medium to outreach to the public. Many Alaskan municipalities already have had great success with Social Media and were consulted in the drafting of the City of Homer Social Media Policy.

Under the direction of City Manager Wrede, a working group consisting of the Community and Economic Development Coordinator, City Clerk, Community Schools Coordinator, IT Manager, Library Director, and Fire Chief with input from City Attorney Klinkner had a number of meetings to work through drafting a social media policy. Through the task of tackling social media, it became evident that City staff needed clear guidelines on website content and links and long overdue upgrades to expand the capacity of how city staff communicates with the public. This spurred the drafting of a website terms and conditions, links policy, and budget request for updates to the website.

Social Media Policy

The Social Media Policy was based on the Fairbanks North Star Borough policy with many revisions to adapt it to the City of Homer. It is the intent of the City to use the website as the main internet presence of the City and have social media sites drive traffic to the website whenever possible. The policy requires that departments get approval of the City Manager when opening a new social media site. Although each department will be responsible for their own social media page, including posting and removing any inappropriate posts, the Public Information Coordinator in the City Manager’s office will be responsible for monitoring content on the social media sites, posting content for the City of Homer main site, and providing training and guidance to staff on social media use.

Public Information Coordinator responsibilities will be included in the position that fills the community and economic development coordinator position.

The social media policy requires the City to treat social media like any other public record. There are firms that archive social media content for municipalities for a monthly charge. One company, Smarsh, changes $80/month for 5 accounts and all posts can be searched at any time by the authorized user. The policy further outlines the parameters of official City of Homer social media sites including use of the logo, photos, etc. To help staff in managing a public social media site, the working group drafted a Social Media Guide based on the County of Marin Social Media Playbook. The guidebook includes a decision making tree that helps employees decipher when to respond, ignore, or remove content.

Website Terms and Conditions

The Website Terms and Conditions incorporate overdue sidebars and disclaimers on the City website. It outlines that the City website cannot have paid advertising (with the exception of promoting community wide events and the community recreation catalog). The policy specifies that the website is subject to the public records retention act and adds a disclaimer for accuracy/timeliness of information.

Links Policy

The Links Policy applies to any links on City of Homer websites or social media. The links policy clarifies the parameters for linking to a non-City website and adds a disclaimer that will pop up when a user clicks on a link.

Website Upgrades

The City of Homer website has not been updated since 2010. Since then there have been many changes, including the exponential use of mobile devices, software that allows more functions on the website, and a ‘refreshed’ City of Homer logo. As of last week, Google gives search engine preference to sites that are mobile friendly, so this will also help drive traffic to the City’s site. The $8,500 budget request updates the City of Homer website to make it mobile friendly, updates the Drupal software that runs the site and provides a graphic refresh, including incorporating the City of Homer logo. The website will look and navigate substantially similar to how it does now. The City has received positive feedback on the website, it will be easier to use and has more functions. In conjunction with the updates, training will be offered to staff in the software updates and the guidelines of the website terms and conditions and links policy.

Enc:

City of Homer Social Media Guide