Social Media House Rules

At Newport City Council we believe that social media is an important part in how people live their lives.

We are adaptable and continually changing how we improve the way we work. We pride ourselves in being open. We have a set of house rules on how we use social media and how we expect people to use it too.

What we will do...

• We will confirm its us.
• If you see a Newport City Council account online you can check it is us.
• We will list our social media accounts on our website.
• We will listen.
• We will read all messages and look to flag-up problems with the most relevant part of the organisation.
• We are keen to hear from you.
• We will say when we’ll monitor each account.
• We will not be online 24-hours a day. But we will say when we’ll be online on each social media account we use.
• We will be human and polite.
• We will treat each message with the politeness you’d expect if you were dealing with us face-to-face or on the telephone.
• We will follow people where we can. But this doesn’t mean endorsement.

 

What we’d like you to do in return...

• We’d like you to be polite. We know that sometimes things don’t go to plan and you’ll want to flag things up with us. But do remember, we’re human and the person monitoring the social media account is only trying to help. So are other people who use social media.
• We’d like you not be anti-social.
• We won’t tolerate swearing, threats or abuse online just as we don’t offline.
• We won’t deal with your query on social media. We’ll direct you to other channels instead.
• We’d like you not to be personal. If you’ve a complaint to make against an individual, we’ll look into it. We’ll point you towards our complaints page.
• We’d like you not to spam or advertise. Our social media channels aren’t the place for followers to advertise.  Making the same points over and over - otherwise known as spamming - isn’t for our social media. You will be better off making a complaint or contacting us another way so we can look into the issue for you.
• We’d like you to not over-share.  If you’ve got an issue we’ll happily look into it. But be careful not to post private information about yourself or others.
• Of course, most of the time social media works fine but on the rare occasion where you don’t stick to the house rules we reserve the right to delete offending content and block you from contacting us through that route.
• We also reserve the right to screen shot content and contact police.
• If you have any questions about our social media or feel a post may be taken down unfairly email us at info@newport.gov.uk