Social media, including networking sites and blogs, are increasing in popularity and activity. The City of Harrah believes that social media can assist in raising visibility and support for its business. The City of Harrah is also aware that social media is not used exclusively for The City of Harrah’s business and that employees are utilizing blogs and social networking sites for personal use. However, it is important to keep in mind that what is posted is traceable and permanent.
When employees create their own blogs, comment on a blog, create a LinkedIn profile, Twitter, use Facebook and/or contribute to or through any of the other online media (i.e., Wikis, blogs, chat rooms, Internet forums, electronic mailing lists, etc.), they are impacting their personal image and potentially impacting The City of Harrah. If your online profile indicates that you work for The City of Harrah, then that activity is associated with The City of Harrah. Therefore, The City of Harrah asks all employees to follow the guidelines below regarding online behavior.
The sites covered in this policy include any electronic form of communication, including social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace; professional networking sites such as LinkedIn; and live blogging tools like Twitter, as well as employee’s personal blogs and those hosted by other organizations that you either author or where you post comments.
Follow these guidelines when creating and/or publishing work-related or non-work-related content online:
- Maintain confidentiality. Never divulge proprietary or confidential information about The City of Harrah, our employees or our clients.
- Represent yourself accurately. If you are participating in an online community and commenting on topics related to our business, you must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of The City of Harrah.
- Be accurate. When posting content, your overall goal should be to provide value through accurate information. You may not post anything that is knowingly false.
- Be respectful. Respect the opinions of others. You may have disagreements, but please make your opinions respectfully. The City of Harrah does not tolerate intimidating or threatening comments.
Please keep the following guidelines in mind regarding your online identity:
- Follow the rules regarding the use of The City of Harrah email outlined in the The City of Harrah’s Personnel Policies.
- Even when using social media sites on a personal basis, please remember to follow The City of Harrah’s policies prohibiting threats and intimidation.
- The City of Harrah is not interested in limiting your ability to participate in personal social networks with a personal email address outside of the workplace. However, what you publish on these sites should never be attributed to The City of Harrah. Please make it clear that you speaking for yourself. Furthermore, even if you do not mention The City of Harrah, that information is readily ascertainable and could reflect poorly upon you and The City of Harrah. Please use common sense when making online comments, even if you intend for them only to be personal in nature. If you choose to use your work affiliation on a social network, then you should regard all communication on that network as you would in a professional network.
- Be aware of your association with The City of Harrah in online social networks. If you identify yourself as a City of Harrah employee, ensure your profile, photographs and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients. In particular, if your name on Twitter is realted to The City of Harrah’s business, be sure that the majority of your “tweets” are on this topic.
- As they are in the public domain, The City of Harrah reserves the right to monitor social media sites and blogs.
- Any violators of these guidelines will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.