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Content: Governments must comply with laws and regulations about recordkeeping, privacy, and freedom of information. Social media policies have to protect employees’ right to free speech, but also establish guidelines to make sure employees represent your agency well and don’t release sensitive information. Since a government social media policy intersects with so many other issues, it’s wise to consult with experts from multiple disciplines during the writing process. Your policy creation team should include representatives from HR, IT, communications, legal, and any other relevant departments. You may also want to add some line-level employees from different departments to help ensure employee buy-in. Identify existing policies that may relate
Chances are, your government social media policy will intersect with other existing policies. Your agency’s code of conduct may establish expectations for employee behavior both inside and outside of work. Your acceptable use policy may cover how employees can use technology at work and what information they can and cannot share about their work. These existing guidelines can be a useful starting point for your agency’s social media policy. Often, you can borrow language and guidelines from other policies to ensure consistency.