Social Media & Privacy Policy

Effective June 22, 2012
Amended: October 2013, August 2014
Amended: November 2, 2015
Amended: October 21, 2019

Purpose

1. The purpose is to provide guidelines relating to Internet privacy and posts on City of Beachwood’s social media sites.

2. The best, most appropriate use of the City of Beachwood’s social media sites falls generally into three categories:

(A) As channels for disseminating time-sensitive information as quickly as possible.

(B) As marketing/promotional channels which increase the City’s ability to broadcast its messages to the widest possible audience.

(C) As a tool to promote emerging economic development efforts to support the city’s business action and retention services and to promote the City’s assets and image.

General

1. Approved social media accounts are viewed as an official voice of the City of Beachwood.

(A) Approval required by City of Beachwood Mayor and City Council.

2. The City of Beachwood’s social media sites are not to be viewed as emergency service outlets. Call 9-1-1 for emergencies. For non-emergencies, call the Beachwood Police Department at 216-464-1234.

3. The establishment and use of the City of Beachwood’s social media sites are subject to approval by the City of Beachwood, Mayor, City Council and staff and representatives.

4. Posts published on the City of Beachwood social media sites are subject to approval.

5. The City of Beachwood’s website Facebook Social Network will remain the City’s primary source of information for users on the internet.

6. Whenever possible, posts to the City of Beachwood’s social media sites will contain links directing users back to the City’s official website for more information.

7. All City of Beachwood social media sites are to comply with other pre-existing policies and standards. Therefore, all records of the City, including social media posts -are public records unless the records are specifically exempted from disclosure under the Ohio Public Records Act. Public Records are available to the public and media upon request.

8. Social media policy guidelines are to be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink on the City of Beachwood’s website.

9. City of Beachwood social media sites are to adhere to applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies.

10. Employees or consultants representing the City of Beachwood through the City’s social media sites must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the City and in accordance with all City policies.

11. This social media policy may be revised at any time.

12. Those authorized to post on any of the City’s social media sites are to comply with these social media guidelines.

13. The City of Beachwood may retweet information deemed potentially helpful to followers.

Comments Policy

The City of Beachwood’s Twitter page may choose to retweet posts by individuals and/or organizations that relate to or affects the City of Beachwood.
As a public entity, the City must serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
The City of Beachwood reserves the right to remove or restrict any content on the City’s Web social media platforms that are in violation of the standards below and are therefore, deemed inappropriate:

Comments in support of or in opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures unless publicly endorsed by the City of Beachwood and the Mayor,
Profane language or content.
Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, education, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation.
Sexual content or links to sexual content.
Selling of goods/services.
Encouragement of illegal activity.
Content that may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems.
Comments not related to the original topic.
Defamatory or personal attacks.
Threats to any person or organization.
Comments in violation of any federal, state or local law.
Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party.

4. A comment posted by a member of the public on any City of Beachwood social media site is the opinion of the commentator only, and publication of said comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the City of Beachwood, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the City of Beachwood.

5. The City of Beachwood reserves the right to deny access to the City of Beachwood social media sites for any individual who violates the City of Beachwood’s Social Media Policy.

6. The City of Beachwood will copy all postings and comments from all social media sites for retention for public record-keeping purposes on a monthly basis. In addition, any comments deemed inappropriate will be copied for retention prior to being deleted from the site.

Links and Embedded Content Policy

1. The City of Beachwood may select links to other social media sites and outside websites that offer helpful resources for users. The City of Beachwood is not responsible for the content that appears on said outside links and provides links as a convenience only.

2. It is not required that any outside entities or individuals get advance permission to link to the City of Beachwood’s social media sites so long as it is not suggested in any way that the City of Beachwood has any relationship or affiliation with that organization or that the City endorses, sponsors or recommends the information, products or services of that site.

3. It is not required that any outside entities or individuals receive advance permission to embed City of Beachwood social media site content so long as such site does not present City of Beachwood content as their own or otherwise misrepresent any of the City’s social media site content. The individual or organization embedding content from the City of Beachwood’s social media site is not to suggest in any way that the City of Beachwood endorses, sponsors or recommends the information, products or services of that site.

Privacy Policy

The City of Beachwood website uses Google products and services like Google Analytics for website intelligence and insights. A cookie may be placed within the system of our website users for this purpose. The City of Beachwood may share its information to help improve Google’s products and services, may contribute anonymous data to an aggregate data set to enable benchmarking, and allows Google technical support representatives and Google and third-party account specialists access to our Google Analytics data and account to help with technical and optimization issues. Visitors to our website may choose to opt out of Google Analytics’ advertising features and decline the use of cookies on our website by utilizing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on, available online at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.