Social Media Policy

All County employees, when communicating on behalf of Miami-Dade County and/or its departments, are required to adhere to this policy when posting or representing themselves on social media. Miami-Dade County has the right to monitor and review all postings made by its employees on behalf of the County on social media platforms for compliance with County and Department policy.

Rules

The following rules are provided to clearly define successful use of social media tools for all Miami-Dade County employees communicating on behalf of Miami­ Dade County:
  • Social media posts via departmental handles and pages shall be related to official County business, information related to each department and information that impacts the community (i.e. traffic alerts, service interruptions, etc.).
  • The Mayor's Office of Communications or designee will monitor and review social media posts scheduled by County departments through the enterprise social media monitoring tool to ensure compliance with this policy. If modifications are deemed necessary, individual department's Social Media Administrators will be advised.
  • All posts should relate to Miami-Dade County events, programs or services when possible and incorporate the County brand per the Miami-Dade County Branding and Style Guide that includes proper use of logos and identifiers as well as exemptions (see Social Media Branding Guide).
  • Miami-Dade County employees shall not represent themselves as an official representative of Miami-Dade County on any social media post, website, blog, networking site or other public posting platforms unless expressly authorized by the Mayor's Communications Director and their Department Director.
  • Employees shall not disclose information that is confidential under federal, state or local laws or exempt from public disclosure under Florida's Public Records Laws. If that disclosure of exempt information may be in the best interest of the County or the public, such disclosure shall not be made without prior authorization of the Mayor's Communications Director in consultation with the County Attorney's Office.
  • Employees shall not utilize an official County email address to establish a personal social media account. Additionally, employees shall not utilize a personal email address to establish an official County or Department social media account.
  • Employees have no expectation of privacy while using the Department­ owned or leased equipment, even when using this equipment to access their personal email account or any social media site. Authorized use of County equipment and networks is regulated by the Information Technology Department (ITD) under Administrative Order 5-5.
  • All personnel shall comply with County Social Media Policies and any additional guidelines set forth by specific Departments. Failure to comply with all applicable policies may result in disciplinary action, up to termination.
  • Government pages should not reflect personal views or favorites. Employees should be mindful that social media sites frequently change their settings. As a result, employees should constantly monitor Department pages to ensure inappropriate content does not appear on the County social media sites.
  • Employees must not use County-related social networking sites for political purposes, to conduct private commercial transactions, or to engage in private business activities. Employees should be mindful that inappropriate use of County-related social media can be grounds for disciplinary action.
  • Departments that want to produce video content with the Communications & Customer Experience Department will work with the Communications & Customer Experience Department to produce the video and ensure that professional standards of quality and branding are met. Departments that want to use external production companies must request through the Communications & Customer Experience Department to access the Marketing Services Pool. Departments are permitted to produce their videos in-house so long as proper standards are adhered to.
  • All videos produced must not infringe on any copyrighted material or trademark, including, but not limited to: Music, video, graphics, animations, logos, trademarks, photographs, etc. See Exhibit 1 of this document to review the Social Media Video Post Guidelines.
  • County departments must not post contests, campaigns, campaign-driven hashtags, giveaways, or departmental videos on social networking or web-based video sharing sites (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, Google, Snapchat, lnstagram, etc.) without approval from the Department Director or designee.

Responsibilities:

The Communications & Customer Experience Department will:
  • Research and make recommendations on new social media tools, trends, technologies, and practices that advance the goals of the County and its departments.
  • Monitor content and may retweet or share said content from the main Miami-Dade County social media accounts where appropriate.
Department Directors will:
  • Complete the Self-Assessment and Memorandum of Understanding PDF prior to establishing social media accounts in order to determine whether the department's goals and strategies are consistent with the County's, and that the department has the necessary resources to adequately maintain and moderate the social media accounts.
  • Provide in writing to the Mayor's Communications Director, or designee, the name, title, and e-mail address of the person(s) designated as the Department's Social Media Administrator and their designee(s)
  • Work with their designated Social Media Administrator to develop a strategy for using social media to enhance the respective department's mission and goals and align them with the County's
  • Develop controls to ensure that only the department's designated social media administrator the Mayor's Communications Director, or designee, has administrative access to publish content on behalf of the department
  • Notify the Mayor's Communications Director via email in the event a designated Social Media Administrator has ended their tenure, and/or that a new social media administrator has been designated
  • Ensure that official social media accounts' handles and passwords are maintained by the department upon employee transfer or separation from service. Official Department Social Media accounts are the property of Miami-Dade County and not the property of any County employee
  • The Social Media Administrator will
    • Be responsible for creating and posting content that is related to the department to which they are assigned. The posting of department-specific content must comply with all standard County and department social media.
    • Must use a generic County email account that is accessible by multiple employees within the department, as well as the Mayor's Office of Communications or designee, for the purpose of creating and accessing social media accounts upon approval of the Social Media Self-Assessment by the Mayor's Office of Communications or designee.
    • Notify users (e.g., fans, followers) of the social media site through the posting of established guidelines of the site's intended purpose and under what circumstances content may be removed.
    • The Communications & Customer Experience Department maintains and publishes the Social Media Directory, which lists all social media sites in the County.
    • Protect the integrity of the County's digital platforms by providing and updating the Mayor's Office of Communications with the names(s) and email addresses of the Department's Social Media Administrator immediately if there are any changes in personnel.
    • Moderate the department's social media accounts to ensure that it is free of off-topic or inappropriate content, including but not limited to: crude language; defamatory, harassing or bullying statements; personally identifiable information; material of a sexually prurient nature; advertisements for alcohol, tobacco or weapons; commercial solicitations unless on behalf of the County; statements for or against a candidate for political office, cause or proposition; statements that advocate unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, disability, pregnancy, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran's status, or actual or perceived status as a victim of domestic violence, dating violence or stalking, source of income, national origin, weight, height, ancestry or genetic information; statements that endanger public health, safety and security; statements that encourage, provide advice for or solicit the commission of a criminal act; and content that violates intellectual property or copyright laws. Each department's expertise to accurately respond to comments and/or provide answers to questions received on the main County social media channels regarding the department must be provided in a timely fashion. Once an initial response and/or answer is published, departments are expected to monitor the post and provide additional responses as soon as possible, if needed.
    • Ensure that each social media site the Department uses contains the following disclaimer in a conspicuous location on the social media site where possible.
    • Under Florida law, names, photos, social media posts, messages, e-mail addresses, and other information submitted to the host of this page or posted on this site are public records. If you do not want your information released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail or messages to this host or post on this site. Instead, contact the department that hosts this site by phone.
    • Manage public records requests pertaining to social media activity to the Communications & Customer Experience Department. Subsequently, in cooperation with the Mayor's Communications Director, or designee, or the County Attorney's Office the Communications & Customer Experience Department will work with departments to ensure that responses are complete and have considered any exemptions under Florida Public Records laws.
    • Obtain written permission when using someone's intellectual property or when using a person's likeness on a social media site, whether captured in video or photographic format. The signed Photo & Video Release Form PDF must be kept on file as part of the respective department's social media records. The release form is only for campaign ads or promotional videos; for Facebook Live or live events, a photo permission form is not necessary if it is a public event.
    • Ensure that topics posted to social media contain links that direct users back to the County's website for additional information when applicable.

Policies