WESTLOCK — The Town of Westlock has updated its social media policy, reflecting modified rules and guidelines for employees, volunteers and contractors.
Councillors reviewed and unanimously adopted a social media policy at the Town of Westlock’s June 10 regular council meeting, where CAO Simone Wiley presented several significant changes made.
The policy provides rules of engagement and best practices for both employees and the public and saw its first revision since it was passed in 2021.
Changes to the revised social media policy include the addition of a policy statement which notes the town’s commitment to transparency, professionalism and legal compliance in its social media use.
“In the revised policy the scope is a little more clearly defined, in what is and isn’t covered by the policy,” said Wiley. “Clarifying the exemption from personal social media use and profiles representing the mayor and town council, that wasn’t overly clear in the original policy.”
Wiley also noted several additional definitions for contractors, volunteers and the town, “expanding on the roles and responsibilities of those groups in relation to the policy,” she explained, pointing out the duties of council, the CAO, social media moderators, employees, contractors and volunteers under the roles and responsibilities section, as well as required training for social media moderators.
“Our revised policy specifies the training requirements for those folks in our organization that are identified in those roles,” Wiley added. “Including areas such as policy compliance, communication skills, technical proficiency, community engagement, cultural sensitivity, handling harassment and ethical conduct. So we’re really wanting to make sure that those people who are moderating our pages are trained to do so.”
The revised policy also provides detailed guidelines for employees, contractors, and volunteers, including responsibilities and expectations for these groups “when using personal social media accounts to discuss town business,” she said, noting it emphasizes transparency, accuracy, ethical comment, and confidentiality. The policy also outlines prohibited content more comprehensively, as it establishes and administers new social media accounts, including criteria for adoption and the need for the CAO or designate approval.
The revised social media policy includes a more detailed section on emergency response and specifies the approved channels for sharing information during emergencies and the protocols for taking and sharing photos and videos.
The last section updated in the policy relates to elections.
“The original policy covered election related social media use, but the revised policy is more concise, emphasizing the prohibition of campaign related content on official channels,” said Wiley.
