Social Media Usage and Community Guidelines

Purpose

The Town of Plympton-Wyoming uses social media as an additional communication tool to connect with residents, businesses, community groups, and visitors. These channels help the Town share information, promote municipal programs and services, provide timely updates, provide a platform for our local businesses, and foster community engagement.

The Town's social media channels are intended to:

• Increase awareness of municipal services, programs, projects, and events.
• Share important and time-sensitive information with the public.
• Enhance communication between the Town and the community.
• Promote transparency and public awareness of municipal initiatives.
• Correct misinformation and provide accurate municipal information.
• Encourage respectful community engagement and dialogue.
• Raising the Town’s digital presence and profile.
• Attracting economic prosperity.
• Increase awareness of local businesses and the town’s history/heritage.

Official Town Social Media Channels

The Town maintains official social media accounts that are managed by authorized Town staff.

Current official channels include:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

Only authorized Town representatives may create, administer, or post content on behalf of the Town of Plympton-Wyoming.

Community Engagement

The Town welcomes comments, questions, and feedback through its social media channels and encourages respectful and constructive participation.
While social media is an important communication tool, it is not intended to replace official methods of contacting the Town. Residents requiring assistance with service requests, complaints, or detailed inquiries may be directed to the appropriate Town department or contact method.

Monitoring and Response Time

The Town's social media channels are monitored during regular business hours:
Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Staff will make reasonable efforts to respond to comments, questions, and messages in a timely manner. Response times may vary depending on staff availability, workload, the nature of the inquiry, and the need to consult with other departments.
The Town does not guarantee responses to all comments, messages, or mentions received through social media.

For emergencies, residents should always call 911 or the appropriate emergency service. Social media platforms are not monitored continuously and should not be used to report emergencies

Community Standards and Appropriate Use

The Town recognizes social media as a forum for public discussion and expression. Users are expected to engage respectfully and responsibly when interacting with Town social media channels.

To maintain a safe and welcoming online environment, the Town reserves the right to hide, remove, or refuse engagement with content that includes:

• Abusive, threatening, harassing, hateful, discriminatory, profane, or offensive language.
• Personal attacks directed at Town staff, members of Council, or other users.
• Defamatory, slanderous, or libelous statements.
• Promotion of violence, illegal activity, or unsafe behaviour.
• Spam, repetitive content, or unsolicited advertisements.
• Promotion of private businesses, commercial products, or services, without consent of the Town.
• Political campaigning, endorsements, or promotion of political candidates or parties.
• Content that is unrelated to the original post or municipal business.
• False or misleading information that may cause public confusion or concern.
• Information that may compromise public safety, security, or municipal operations.
• Content that infringes on copyright, intellectual property rights, or other legal rights.
• Disclosure of personal, confidential, or private information about any individual without their consent.

Protection of Staff and Workplace Respect

The Town is committed to maintaining a respectful workplace and protecting employees from harassment and abuse.
Comments or content directed at Town employees, Council members, volunteers, or contractors that are abusive, threatening, discriminatory, or harassing may be removed and may result in further action by the Town. Refer #36 Social Media Policy and #99 Respectful Workplace Policy for further elaboration.

Moderation and Enforcement

The Town reserves the right to:

• Hide or remove content that violates these guidelines.
• Limit or disable comments on specific posts when necessary.
• Report content to the applicable social media platform.
• Block or ban users who repeatedly violate these guidelines.
• Take additional action where required by law or to protect the safety and security of Town staff, residents, infrastructure, or operations.

The Town's decision regarding content moderation is final.

Privacy and Public Records

Users should be aware that social media platforms are public spaces.

Please do not post personal, confidential, or sensitive information through comments, direct messages, or other public-facing features of social media platforms.

Content published on Town social media channels may be subject to applicable municipal records retention requirements and access requests under provincial legislation.

External Links and Third-Party Consent

The Town may occasionally share content from external organizations, agencies, community groups, or other partners where it is considered relevant to the interests of the community.

Sharing or referencing external content does not constitute endorsement by the Town of Plympton-Wyoming of any organization, product, service, opinion, or viewpoint.

Accessibility

The Town is committed to providing accessible communication whenever possible. Efforts will be made to ensure social media content is accessible and inclusive for all users.