SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERS - A GUIDE FOR MEMBERS CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Introduction What is social media? Why use social media? How to use social media? Social media and the law At a glance - some do’s and don’ts Glossary of terms 1 INTRODUCTION Social media is increasingly popular form of communication for individuals and organisations and is used both socially and for business. Social media is used to describe any kind of on-line tool that you can use for sharing what you know, including blogs, photo sharing, video sharing, social networks and mobile phone applications. Unlike a telephone conversation or email, it is an interactive broadcast medium – your messages are likely to be viewed by a much wider range of people than just the intended recipient. This also means that once your message is out there on social media there is no delete button! Even if you delete a post it’s likely someone could have seen it and shared it. The golden rules then are:   Think before you tweet/post anything – never publish anything you wouldn’t be happy being formally recorded Do not comment, post or tweet anything when you are angry, tired or have consumed alcohol With this caution in mind, there are many benefits to engaging with social media. It’s simple and free to use. It can give you a personal connection and dialogue with different types of residents that you may not reach via other channels. Conversations are already happening out there – this is your opportunity to get involved! This guide has been developed for Councillors who would like to use social media as a tool to share information, open new dialogues with the people in their communities and beyond, and engage publicly in productive and immediate two-way conversation. Please read it alongside the Members Code of Conduct and relevant protocols. Read on to see how making effective use of social media can make you more connected as a councillor. 2   WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? Most of us will be familiar with social media; it’s a collective term used to describe easy ways to create and publish on the internet Whats App?, Facebook, Instagram, You Tube and Twitter are the most popular social media sites It is also easy to set up a blog – an online journal where you can share information, activities and the things that mean the most to you. Some good sites to get started include: www.wordpress.org www.tumblr.com www.plus.google.com (you will need to set up a Google account) 3        4   WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA? Social media offers an easy way to talk and to listen to residents, local businesses and other partner organisations – you have the potential to establish direct two-way communication with all of them It is a valuable way of finding out what people are talking about locally, and globally, and their concerns and interests It’s a useful way of finding out about breaking news, the latest news, the latest research or policy announcements from political parties It’s a good way of making your communities more aware of the work you do Social media is mobile and instant – you can take it around your community or wherever you are out and about You can upload pictures and videos – so you could share for example pictures of you at a local event, or potential sites for development, new buildings, old buildings …a picture can tell a thousand words It’s free. Accounts cost nothing, and it’s likely you already have the equipment you need – devices that access the internet HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA When you set up an account, consider what name you use. For your professional role it will help people to find you if you preface with ‘Cllr’ Remember that your contact details, excluding your home address, are published on the Council website, so for example saying that you are enjoying two weeks abroad on holiday, is letting people know that your house is empty. Remember who can see what: Facebook You can control who has access to different parts of your account, and manage what the world sees, and what your “friends” see but please be aware that your ‘friends’ may refer to your comments in the public arena, where it is possible for your comments to be taken out of context. Twitter The whole world can potentially see everything that you tweet. Your tweets will appear on all of your “followers” feeds, and each of them can re-tweet – so all of their followers can see your tweet – and so on.  Make it easy for people to find you – many people will search for the area you represent, so make sure you mention your location frequently.  You can use (and search by) the ‘hashtag’ ( # ) for example #Longlevens, #FoD,      5 #Southampton - so search by # to help find what people are talking about in your area, and include a # to help people find you Increase your friends and followers, and your reach by following, linking and re-tweeting other people and sites Do take the time to look after your social media accounts – your ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ will expect quick responses to any queries, and you will only get more friends and followers, or increase your ‘reach’ by updating your accounts regularly That said, don’t be drawn into negative or emotionally driven conversations – ‘trolls’, or deliberately disruptive posters will often deliberately try to invoke a reaction/anger Remember social media is about two-way conversation – you will get feedback, and some of it may be challenging – make sure that all your posts/responses are no different from what you would be happy talking about in public – you must take responsibility for anything that you say online SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE LAW Generally if you conduct yourself on social media in an objective, balanced, informed and accurate way, then you should be fine. Keep your Members Code of Conduct in mind, if you breach this policy then it is likely you will have breached the Members Code of Conduct too: Members Code of Conduct Please see the following general legal issues which you should be aware of:        Libel/Defamation if you publish an untrue statement about a person which is damaging to their reputation, they may take action against you. This is also true if someone posts something libellous on your site and you don’t take swift action to remove it. Be aware that the courts can require you to pay compensation in a successful libel claim taken against you. It is very unlikely the Council will provide legal advice or support in defamation matters. Copyright using images or text from a copyrighted source, e.g. using bits of publications or other people’s photos, without getting permission is likely to breach copyright laws. Don’t publish anything you are not sure about without checking first. See UK Copyright Law Factsheet. Data Protection it is unlawful to publish personal data about individuals unless they have given you their permission. As a councillor you are a data controller and so are personally responsible for what you publish. Incitement it is a criminal offence to incite any criminal act. It is a criminal offence to make a discriminatory remark about anyone based on a protected characteristic as defined in the Equality Act. Harassment it is a criminal offence to repeatedly pursue a campaign against someone where this is likely to cause alarm, nuisance or distress. Equality take care in publishing anything that might be considered sexist, racist, ageist, homophobic or anti-faith to avoid for claims for a breach of the equality laws or the Members Code of Conduct. Legal Proceedings you might find that you are contacted about on-going legal proceedings or those proceedings which have not yet been started by or against the Council. It is best not to comment and refer the matter to Legal Services. As an elected representative of the Council it is possible for your comments to be referred to in such court proceedings. If you feel there might be an underlying motive behind the query or  6 someone is encouraging you to give a view on a special case, the best option is to put the person in contact with the relevant service at the council. Elections and Voting you should not post anything onto social media concerning votes when attending election counts or postal vote verifications. The Representation of the People Act 2002 is clear that it is a criminal offence to publish any information regarding the result of an election that may affect the result of that election or undermine the secrecy of the ballot – S.66A Prohibition on publication of exit polls (1). No person shall, in the case of an election to which this section applies, publish before the poll is closed– (a) any statement relating to the way in which voters have voted at the election where that statement is (or might reasonably be taken to be) based on information given by voters after they have voted. SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE LAW Some do’s and don’ts           7.         Do think before you message! Do not say anything that you would not be prepared to discuss face to face with anyone, or be prepared to be minuted in a public meeting – social media is like a public record, a digital footprint, of everything you say – even if you later delete a post Do update your social media regularly – if it becomes redundant, it is better to close it rather than appear unresponsive, or uninterested Do refrain from publishing anything which you have received in confidence Do include photos, videos or links to website information to help you make your points Do make sure that you don’t bring the council or your councillor role, into disrepute Don’t re-tweet anything you don’t know to be true Don’t post comments in haste – particularly when you are feeling angry, have been drinking alcohol or your judgement might otherwise be impaired Don’t disclose confidential information about people, the council or its business Don’t bully or intimidate others – repeated negative comments about or to individuals could be interpreted as bullying or intimidation Do not deal with casework issues via social media. There is danger cases could be missed, and there are also data protection issues. If you receive a casework request via social media, please forward your council email address and ask their constituent to email them directly GLOSSARY OF TERMS Blog term derived from ‘weblog’ meaning an internet log or diary/journal Blogosphere all blogs collectively on the internet Direct Message a message sent via Twitter directly to someone who follows you or who you follow Facebook an example of social networking Flickr photo sharing site Follower someone who has chosen to follow you on Twitter Friend someone who you have allowed to access your Facebook page – not necessarily a real friend Forum a virtual discussion area                 #Hashtag a hashtag or # is a way of denoting a keyword which can be used as a search term on Twitter. Instagram a platform for sharing photos and videos Microblog short blog e.g. Twitter using a maximum of 140 characters Pinterest a virtual pinboard for creating and sharing images RebelMouse a free service that connects to your accounts at services such as Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. It integrates all your SM Tweets, postings and blogs automatically into one page, boosting your SM presence without you doing anything extra as it ‘runs in the background’. It will save you having to tweet your blogs etc. to get more prominence on search engines Retweet to forward a message or Tweet seen on Twitter Social networking WhatsApp?, Facebook etc Snapchat a photo messaging application for photos, videos, drawings and text Spam electronic junk mail Trending current popular people or conversations as in ‘trending on Twitter now…’ Troll someone who disrupts online communities or discussions through unhelpful or irrelevant posts Tweet a message sent on Twitter Tweety Hall a virtual gathering place for councillors with Twitter accounts – search @tweetyhall Twitter a social media site for sharing short messages limited to 140 characters called tweets Vimeo A platform for sharing videos and photographs You Tube a platform for sharing videos and photographs