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City of Bloomington Facebook standard

Purpose

Facebook is a social networking site. Businesses and governments have joined individuals in using Facebook to promote activities, programs, projects and events. This standard is designed for City departments looking to drive traffic to department web pages at www.ci.bloomington.mn.us and to inform more people about City activities. These standards should be used in conjunction with the City's Social Media Use Policy and Video Posting Policy.

Establishing a presence on Facebook

To keep the City’s Facebook presence both current and full of fresh content, the City of Bloomington will maintain a single Facebook page. If a department determines it has a business need for more access to the Facebook account, it will submit a request to the Communications Administrator for approval.

The City does not allow separate Facebook pages at this time. If the decision is made to allow separate pages, the content standards below should be followed. Requests for separate Facebook pages will follow the same procedures outlined in the City’s Single Domain Name Policy, Section I.

Content

  1. Type of ‘pages’
    1. The City has a ‘page’ in Facebook, not a ‘group.’ Facebook ‘pages’ offer distinct advantages including greater visibility, customization and measurability.
    2. The ‘type’ of page is ‘government.’
  2. Boilerplate
    1. The Core Web Team will standardize and provide all Facebook page images that must include the City's logo.
    2. The page will include a mission and/or department/division boilerplate on the Wall page. New users can be directed to either a static ‘Welcome’ page or to the Wall to connect them to the freshest content.
      1. On separate pages, a City boilerplate sentence should follow the department/program description:

      2. (Insert department/division) is a department/division of the City of Bloomington, Minnesota. This site is intended to serve as a mechanism for communication between the public and [department] on the listed topics. Any comments submitted to this page and its list of fans are public records subject to disclosure pursuant to Chapter 13 Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. Public disclosure requests must be directed to the Bloomington City Clerk.

    3. If comments are turned on, the Wall page should include a Comment Policy Box with the following disclaimer:
      1. Comments posted to this page will be monitored. Tthe City reserves the right to remove inappropriate comments including those that have obscene language or sexual content, threaten or defame any person or organization, violate the legal ownership interest of another party, support or oppose political candidates or ballot propositions, promote illegal activity, promote commercial services or products or are not topically related to the particular posting.
  3. Link to the City
    1. A link to www.ci.bloomington.mn.us will be included on the Info page.
    2. On separate pages, City department/division and project pages should be fans of other City Facebook pages.
  4. Page naming of separate pages
    1. Page name should be descriptive of the department.
    2. Departments will choose carefully with consideration for abbreviations, slang iterations, etc.
    3. The Communications Administrator will approve proposed names.
  5. Page administrators
    1. A successful page requires monitoring.  The department/division shall appoint one of its staff as the assigned administrator (AA), who is responsible for monitoring the Facebook page. Posts should be approved by the AA or a designated alternate.
    2. The AA is responsible for making sure content is not stale. The department/division will designate a backup administrator in AA’s absence.
  6. Comments and discussion boards
    1. Comments to the Wall will be turned on. Discussion boards must be turned off.
  7. Style
    1. Any City Facebook page will be based on a template that includes consistent City branding. The Core Web Team will provide departments/divisions with the template.
    2. Departments/divisions will use proper grammar and standard AP style, avoiding jargon and abbreviations. Facebook is more casual than most other communication tools but still represents the City at all times.
  8. Applications
    1. There are thousands of Facebook applications. Common applications can allow users to stream video and music, post photos and view and subscribe to RSS feeds. While some may be useful to the page's mission, they can cause clutter and security risks.
    2. An application should not be used unless it serves a business purpose, adds to the user experience, comes from a trusted source and is approved by the Communications Administrator.
    3. An application may be removed at any time if there is significant reason to think it is causing a security breach or spreading viruses.
    4. New applications will be installed by the Core Web Team.

Archive

Content posted to social media sites will be transitory in nature, in order to adhere to the City’s records retention policy.

Social Media Use Policy and related standards

 

For more information, contact:

Janine Hill, Communications Administrator
PH: 952-563-8819; TTY: 952-563-8740, FAX: 952-563-8715
E-mail: jhill@ci.bloomington.mn.us

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