Create social media guidelines for local politicians

[jt-nti]

Very rough draft: comments welcome!

Know and follow The Seven Principles of Public Life

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

Be authentic and personal

Respect your audience. Don't use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in person.

Always pause and think before posting. Don't pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes. Be honest. Say what you know to be true or have a good source for. If you've made a mistake, don't be afraid to admit it.

Always check facts. Do not automatically assume that material is accurate and take reasonable steps where necessary to seek verification, for example, by checking data/statistics and being wary of photo manipulation.

Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.

Social media is a good place to discuss community issues however for case work of a more personal nature, reply to suggest they phone or email your office or attend one of your advice surgeries.

Do not block constituents. You should not block constituents unless they are abusive, harmful or obscene, in which case you should report them to the relevant social media company and the police.

Based on the following...

• The Seven Principles of Public Life
• Recommended guidance for the use of Twitter by politicians
• GDS Social media house rules
• CharityComms social media policy template
• IBM Social Computing Guidelines

Are there any other good examples?

[jt-nti]

Feedback via twitter:

• "1. i will not block constituents who disagree with me."
• "Don’t accuse someone of lying when they haven’t - be kind - no personal attacks"
• "Don't just be a repeater of your party HQ"
• "say something from yourself, not from your media relations team."
• "Are you going to engage in debate?"

[pavsmith]

i'll add to the first one, "...nor if they simply support a different party to me."

[lancew]

Is there something around having separate accounts for role as politician and as private citizen?

Strongly support the don't just broadcast from party HQ.

I also wonder if there could/should be something discouraging walled gardens. I.e. considering posting to Facebook/Twitter only if also posted somewhere open (official website)?

[jt-nti]

@lancew thanks for the feedback!

Definitely worth mentioning the the rules would apply to any public account, whether it's specifically for politics, or a personal account. Politicians should be setting a good example in public.

Using walled gardens is an interesting topic. I tend to agree that politicians should be as open as possible but the intention of these guidelines wasn't really to suggest what tools they should use to communicate- at least one MP famously doesn't even respond to email!

[jt-nti]

More feedback via twitter...

This looks pretty comprehensive. Perhaps expand on the importance of calm, considered responses. Not just to constituents but to the media, opponents... Never reply when emotional or (I'll say it..) drunk - the aim is to never have to delete or correct public communications.

[pavsmith]

This is part of the problem. If you lock it down sufficiently then all the MP's feed becomes is a bland regurgitation of the party's blatherings. What then do you do when the MP in question sets up a "personal" account and tweets rather controversial content? This is quite a little rathole.