Social Media is an Opportunity and a Threat for Public Entities
Social media is an issue for local government everywhere as shown by the Jackson (Mississippi) Fire Department’s recent foray into internet posting policies. A disgruntled former employee created a Facebook post with unsavory information about the Fire Department, forcing the Department into a conversation about its social media policy.
The Jackson Fire Department issued a memo on social media, while the City itself is still developing a full policy. The Department’s memo encourages employees not to: publicly discuss issues that might be detrimental to the Department or that might conflict with the duties and ethics of a firefighter; to air personal grievances; and clarify that their opinions are their own and not those of the Department.
The rise of social media outlets like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter presents an important communication opportunity for public entities and their constituents. However, the use of social media needs to be carefully planned to avoid pitfalls. Social media is, by definition, an interactive tool intended to create conversations among users and provide a venue for commentary and feedback. For public entities, the tool is useful for broadcasting to a growing internet audience, but allowing feedback and conversation can be a risk. Like the Jackson Fire Department, every government entity will need to have a conversation about the inherent conflict between an individual’s free speech rights and the government’s legitimate right to protect the government service.
Although it is important for public entities to use as many of these communication channels as practicable, the constant need to update and monitor social media outlets drains staff resources.
Public entities must also consider how they will comply with their archiving and public records responsibilities when communicating in an electronic format.
It should be clear to constituents that messages intended for the public agency should be conveyed through the agency’s official website. For example, a public records request or other official query won’t necessarily be recognized via Twitter or Facebook.
These considerations are plaguing the private sector, as well. McDonald’s launched a Twitter campaign last week with the hash tag: “#McDstories.”
When users co-opted the hash tag to distribute negative stories about McDonald’s, the company rapidly ended the campaign. The company stated in an email to the Silicon Valley Business Journal: "With all social media campaigns, we include contingency plans should the conversation not go as planned. The ability to change midstream helped this small blip from becoming something larger." This is a wise strategy for any entity using social media, public or private.
