The City Council adopted a social media policy in 2010 to govern how the city interacts on social media. It was revised in 2014 to more accurately highlight how the city uses social media. Now, five years later, the policy is being updated again to reflect the ever-changing nature of social media, as well as present the policy in a more readable, updated format.

Government use of social media has come under increasing scrutiny through judicial challenges of what falls under First Amendment protected speech. The policy’s primary changes include narrowing what the type of comments the city may legally remove from its social media accounts. It also outlines the city’s general procedures for using social media and provides guidelines and best practices for the personal use of social media by employees and elected and appointed officials.

The Proposed Social Media Policy attachment includes notes with changes from the 2014 approved policy. The policy draft has been reviewed by the city attorney, as well as the League of Minnesota Cities’ staff attorney.