Appendix 2 – Terms of Reference

Terms of reference for the use of social media in

St. Helens Council

December 2011

Karen Gillis
Customer Relationship Manager
Customer Services
St.Helens Council
 Terms of reference for the use of social media in
St. Helens Council
The general growth in the use of social media, particularly social networking
sites, has created an increased opportunity for media communications that
have an impact upon the Council.

The term 'social media' is used here to describe dynamic and socially-
interactive, networked information and communication technologies, for
example Web 2.0 sites, SMS text messaging and social networking sites.

In essence, Social media is any form of online publication or presence,

which allows end users to engage in multi-directional conversations
in or around the content on the website

While the Council has clear guidelines and policies regarding other aspects
of its operation, e.g. human resources, IT and corporate identity, these do
not explicitly cover the usage of social media.

So Why Use Social Media?

The public expect that they can do business with us, obtain information
about us, or concerning them using the same media channels available to
them within their other non-Council communications.

Social media is far reaching, and there are possibilities that information will
reach those previously unobtainable audiences.

Social Media can provide cost effective, innovative and efficient support in
communicating with our residents, assisting in realising those expectations,
and complimenting our more traditional methods of communication

It is just another ‘tool in the box’!!

There are also opportunities to disseminate one item of information many

times.

But with that ‘power’, comes responsibility.

Any social media application used as representation of the Council must be
applied and used responsibly and professionally. To this end, any officer of
the Council requiring participation in any social media format will be
required to adhere to the guidelines as set out in this document.
The purpose of these social media guidelines is as follows:

• to encourage good practice

• to protect the Council, its officers and elected members
• to clarify where and how existing processes and guidelines apply to
social media
• to promote effective and innovative use of social media as part of the
Council's communication orientated activities
Which social media applications are included in the guidelines?

The Council will utilise the following social media applications:

Facebook©
Twitter©
YouTube©
Flickr©

Although the above applications do not by any means cover all available
applications, they will be at the core of any of our campaigns, and those
social media applications not available in the list, will be considered on an
individual and justified basis.

Certain services will benefit from, and will have resources to manage and
moderate comments relating to their service, as part of the delivery of said
service. These have been identified as currently being

Events
Tourism
Youth Action Zone (YAZ)

Other services within the Council requiring a definitive presence will have to
do so through the normal application channels, as detailed within this
document, and provide justification through means of a business case.

The council will have a ‘homepage’ for each application, and where
applicable services can apply for representation on those pages.
In the main, this will apply to Facebook and Twitter.

The ‘homepages’ will be managed by the Customer Services Quality and

Technical team.

Where such representation is required, information will be fed from existing

website pages to the application, using RSS feeds.

RSS or Rich Site Summary, is a format for delivering regularly changing web
content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers
syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

Details of how to apply for your pages to be fed to Facebook or Twitter in

this manner, are to be found in the guidance.
How do I apply for a social media presence?

Applications for representation for any Council service on one or more of

the social media applications indicated in this guidance, must be supported
by either a;

Communications Plan
Consultation Toolkit Plan
Request for Social Media presence

Communications Planning Database

The Communications Planning database has been developed too allow

officers to be advised by our Marketing Services team, as to the best actions
to take when embarking on a marketing campaign or promotion associated
with any service delivered by the Council.

Officers must supply details around the purpose and justification of any
campaign, as well as providing information around their target audiences.

On analysing the requirements, the Marketing Team will provide the

originating officer with options for consideration for the promotion of the
specific requirements around the campaign.

The Communications Planning database will allow the Marketing Officer to

select any of the following social media options for promotion of the
campaign:

Facebook©
Twitter©
YouTube©
Flickr©

Once the suggestions have been accepted by the associated originating

officer, an action plan will be created, detailing those actions required to
fulfil a successful promotion of the service, as one would imagine.

The creation of the action plan will also instigate the creation of a request
for social Media presence via the Social Media Request database.

Details of requirements will be transposed to the request and the document

mailed to the originating officer for completion.

Once the remaining details have been completed, the officer will then
submit the request to the appropriate line manager for approval.
Once approved by the line manager, the request will be sent electronically
to the Customer Services Quality and Technical Team who will then carry
out the request.

Consultation Toolkit Database

The Consultation Toolkit has been developed to allow officers to undertake

a structured consultation with groups across the borough.

Officers must supply details around the purpose and justification of any
consultation, associating them with the appropriate priorities within the
Corporate Plan, as well as providing information around their target
audiences and purpose of the consultation.

The database will allow officer to select any of the following social media
options as a channel of consultation:

Facebook©
Twitter©
YouTube©
Flickr©

Once the consultation has been registered, a request for social media
presence will be created via the Social Media Request database.

Details of requirements will be transposed to the request and the document

mailed to the originating officer for completion.

Once the remaining details have been completed, the officer will then
submit the request to the appropriate line manager for approval.

Once approved by the line manager, the request will be sent electronically
to the Customer Services Quality and Technical Team who will then carry
out the request.

There may be additional features required by the officer in order to carry

out the consultation, such as the creation of an online form. Any such
features must be accompanied by a full specification for Business IT’s web
developers via the BIT Work Request database.
Request for Social Media presence

To assist in the management and moderation of any social media presence

representing the Council, we have introduced a new request database –
Social Media Requests.

The database will capture your requirements, link to the appropriate

originating system – i.e. Communications Planning or Consultation Toolkit,
and invoke the necessary workflow to authorise your request.

The database will require the following details to be completed:

1. Source of Request

• Communications Plan
• Consultation Toolkit
• Request for Presence on St.Helens Council Facebook homepage

2. Communications Plan / Consultation Toolkit Reference

• Reference will be transposed on creation of the request via either

database
• or will be generated by the system if request for home page

3. Originator

• The originating and requesting officer

4. Originator establishment details:

• Department
• Division
• Section
• Job Title
• Location
• Telephone

5. Submission details

• Date Submitted
• Date Required

6. Authorisation

• Line Manager
7. Request details

To indicate request for presence on any of;

• Facebook©
• Twitter©
• YouTube©
• Flickr©
• Blogs

8. Title

E.g. - Social Media request for Youth Action Zone

9. Facebook Page Name

E.g. - www.Facebook.com/Whatsoninsthelens

All Facebook references will be expected to have sthelens as the suffix to

the page name

10. Purpose

This area will need details around the purpose for the request.
Some details will be carried forward from any associated Consultation or
Communication Plan

11. Owner

Designated ‘owner’ of the service Facebook presence

Details will be recorded in the ‘Corporate Social Media Log’, which will be
part of the request database.

12. Moderator

• Designated officer who will be responsible for the duration of any

presence for the campaign / consultation.

• The officer will moderate comments and gather those acceptable

comments to provide feedback for any campaign / consultation.

• Details will be recorded in the ‘Corporate Social Media Log’, which

will be part of the request database.
13. Period of the campaign / consultation

• Start and end date must be provided.

14. Comments to be collated by date

• Requester must provide a date by which they will have recorded all
of their comments in readiness for feedback. The date will also mark
the point at which the presence will be unpublished.
Quality and Technical Team Responsibilities

Once a request for social media presence has been received by the
Customer Services Quality and Technical Team, the requester will be
contacted by an officer based in that team to confirm requirements.

The team will work with the requester to ensure that their requirements are
in place in readiness for the start of campaign or consultation as applicable.

Once the presence has been allocated, details will be passed to the officer
who originally made the request.

The Quality and Technical Team will be responsible for the maintenance of
the list of social media sites representing St.Helens Council.

The list will also be maintained on a dedicated web page within the
Council’s website in an attempt to reassure visitors to the site, which social
media sites are legitimate representatives of St.Helens Council.
Owner and Moderator Responsibilities

A Social Media Moderator is one of the most important and difficult roles to
undertake. You should not underestimate the time needed to encourage,
grow and create valuable online discussion or communities.

The main role for the allocated moderator will be to see that any comments
posted, comply with the guidance provided to participants.

You must carefully consider who you select to carry out this role, and the
effect that it may have on their normal duties.

Why is forum moderation necessary?

If we do not moderate our social media presence it can be overwhelmed
with spam and abusive comments.

Spam and abusive posts are detrimental to our online community, and
potentially defamatory and damaging to the reputation of the Council and
so officers assigned to the Moderator role ensure that such posts are
removed from the media in question.

How will our participants know what is acceptable usage?

To help inform our online community of our terms of usage of any social
media presence representing St.Helens Council, it is essential that our
online community has a set of guidelines to follow.

Guidelines will be published to this effect on every social media presence

representing St.Helens Council.

The key to effective forum moderation

The Moderator should only edit the comments of any participants as a last
resort.
Where comments are not acceptable, attempts should be made to speak
directly and confidentially to the participant.

Deletion of Posts
On the removal of a post, which has not adhered to the guidance given, the
moderator should submit a post to the effect that the comment removed,
did not comply with the participant terms of usage.
Responses Required!
Should participant comments require a response in the form of a comment,
the moderator will do so in compliance with the Moderator guidance
provided.

Should participant comments require a detailed response, the moderator

will be responsible for ensuring that the participant uses the Contact Us
feature which will be accessible via the Council’s website or from the social
media pages allocated.
Guidance for Moderators

• When using third-party websites (such as Facebook), know and follow

their terms of use, and remember that the presence is representative
of St.Helens Council.

• Where presence is requested on the St.Helens Council social media

‘homepage’ - no content should be published unless already added in
some way to the main website.

• Do not publish any information which is not already in the public

arena.

• Be accurate, fair, thorough and transparent.

• Be mindful that what you publish may be public for a long time

• Respect copyright laws

• Do not publish or report on conversations that are meant to be

private or internal to St.Helens Council without seeking permission
from the appropriate officer to do so

• Do not cite or reference customers, partners or suppliers without

their first seeking and recording their approval

• When you do make a reference, link back to the source where

possible.

• Respect your audience

• Do not publish anything that would not be acceptable in the

workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others’
privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or
inflammatory, such as politics and religion.

• Write in the first person (“I” or “we”)

• Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your

department, division or team

• Remember that you are an ambassador for the council and be cordial
at all times

• Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation

• Do not correct contributors’ spelling or grammar

 • Edit participants contributions only when necessary. Instead of
editing or removing significant factual errors, you should either make
a public response or directly contact the person who made the
original comment, or both

• If a contributor makes a comment that is defamatory or likely to

cause extreme offense, edit or remove it where possible. If this is not
possible, report it to the Council’s Customer Services Quality and
Technical Team.

• In such cases and where possible, contact the user to explain why you
took this action, and if appropriate ask them to post the comment
again without the offensive content, should they wish their comment
to be ‘heard’.

• All feedback to the Council that has been submitted through an

authorised social networking site, should be monitored by the
responsible officer as declared in the original request.

• Feedback that requires a response must be directed to the Council’s

Contact Centre at all times.
Feedback that does not follow this process, will not be responded to.

• Always remember that participation online results in your comments

being permanently available and open to being republished in other
media

• Never give out personal details like home address and phone numbers

• be aware that you may attract media interest in you as an individual,

so proceed with care whether you are participating in a business or a
personal capacity

If you have any doubts, take advice from your line manager.Stay within the
legal framework and be aware that libel, defamation, copyright and data
protection laws apply.
Guidance for Participants

The following guidance will be posted on all St.Helens Council related social
media presence on the world-wide-web.

Example below is related to Facebook

Welcome to the official St.Helens Council’s Facebook page!!

We hope that you will find this a useful way of keeping up to date with news
and issues about your town.

The St.Helens Council Facebook page and associated campaign pages are
managed by our Customer Service and Marketing teams on behalf of the
Council.

If you become a fan of our page/s, you can expect regular posts covering
some or all of the following:
• Events in and around the Borough
• Council news – press releases
• Public consultations
• Emergency information
• Youth Action Zone

Availability

Our Facebook page will be updated and monitored during office hours,
Monday to Friday (except bank holidays). We are unable to guarantee the
availability of and can accept no responsibility for lack of service due to
Facebook downtime.

Facebook Comments

Some of our Facebook pages will be in the form of information feeds only
from our news, jobs and events website pages.

The exceptions to this rule will be our Events pages and those designed to
form part of a Public Consultation process.

On our Events pages you will be able to tell us whether you like an event or
posting.

For Consultations, comments will be invited, but only for the period of
consultation.

Once the consultation has finished, the comment feature will be withdrawn,
as feedback is collated for analysis and reporting.
Feedback
We welcome feedback and comments from all of our Fans, but ask that any
Comments which require a response, are directed to

contactcentre@sthelens.gov.uk

quoting the Facebook page in question, so as to help us direct the

query/comment to the correct service.

Usage by our Fans

Where comments are allowed on consultations, we ask that our Fans follow
the guidelines set out below:

• Be civil, tasteful and relevant

• Do not post messages that are unlawful, libellous, harassing,

defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane,
sexually oriented or racially offensive

• Do not swear

• Do not post content copied from elsewhere, for which you do not own
the copyright

• Do not post the same message, or very similar messages, more than
once (also called "spamming")

• Do not publicise your, or anyone else's, personal information, such as

contact details

• Do not advertise products or services

• Do not impersonate someone else

We reserve the right to remove any contributions that break the rules or
guidelines as stated above.
Summary

These principles apply to your online participation and sets out the
standards of behaviour expected as an employee of the Council.

Remember, you should participate in the same way as you would with other
media or public forums such as giving presentations.

Be responsible
be honest at all times and when you gain insight;
share it with others where appropriate

Be credible
be accurate, fair, and thorough and make sure you are doing the right
thing

Be consistent
Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation
Be cordial, honest and professional at all times

Be integrated
Wherever possible, align online participation with other offline
communications

And importantly …

Be professional
remember that you are an ambassador of the Council.
Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your
directorate, department or team.
Terms of reference for the use of social media in
St. Helens Council

November 2010