Agenda item

To approve the updated Social Media Policy and Guidelines. 

That the updated Social Media Policy and Guidelines be APPROVED.  

72.1          The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 113-123, attached an updated Social Media Policy and Guidelines which Members were asked to approve. The documents had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting in November and had been recommended to the Executive Committee for approval.

72.2          The Corporate Services Manager explained that the previous policy had been introduced in 2015 and it was felt prudent to review it to ensure it continued to reflect the Council’s approach and best practice. The Policy was really important as it set out Tewkesbury Borough Council’s approach and expectations regarding the use of social media and, alongside the corporate style guide, ensured social media was consistent and in line with the Council’s brand. Social media had grown hugely since 2015 and was now one of the most used ways of engaging with residents and the approach the Council took meant it was friendly and understandable with the use of humour when appropriate.

72.3          There had not been any significant changes during the review of the policy with the main amendments being the inclusion of Instagram as a social media channel used by the Communications team; the recommendation that Members help promote the Council’s messages to their own social media followers by sharing content from the corporate accounts on their own pages; and an explanation of why the Council did not currently interact on Facebook noticeboards.

72.4          During the brief discussion which ensued, a Member referred to a recent cyber attack at a neighbouring local authority and asked if Tewkesbury Borough Council was satisfied there was no risk to the Council’s network through its social media. In response, the Corporate Services Manager indicated that, generally, there was a risk with anything digital but the Council’s network and its social media accounts were very separate so she was happy with things as they stood. Referring to the use of social media by Councillors, a Member questioned what the dos and don’ts were, whether Councillor Facebook accounts were monitored and what the comeback was on Councillors who used it. In response, the Corporate Services Manager advised that Facebook accounts were not monitored but there had been occasions where things had been brought to the attention of Officers and, in those cases, she had worked with the Monitoring Officer to ensure the matters raised were not in breach of the Code of Conduct – generally speaking, it was each Councillors’ responsibility to make their followers aware whether their comments were made as a Councillor or as an individual. The Chief Executive indicated that he had been working with the Local Government Association (LGA) on further training around civility in local government when engaging with members of the public and had been putting together a case for Members to look at those issues in terms of written correspondence, face to face and social media interactions – the Head of Democratic Services was working with the LGA to bring that to the Council as a pilot, hopefully in the first quarter of this year.

72.5          Upon being proposed and seconded, it was