Agenda

Return

C. 75

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
Date:	August 1, 2023

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

RECOMMENDED UPDATES TO THE COUNTY'S SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 08/01/2023

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

See Addendum

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Ken Carlson, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:	Kristi Jourdan 925-313-1180
cc:	CAO (Enea) OCM Director

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: August 1, 2023
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE updates to the County's social media policy and DIRECT the County Administrator to promulgate the updated policy as an Administrative Bulletin for reference by all employees

FISCAL IMPACT:

For awareness, the Office of Communications & Media currently has an annual agreement in place with Archive Social for records retention. Updates to the policy and the introduction of the supplemental guide will not cost departments any additional funding.

BACKGROUND:

Social Media Policy and Staff Training

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

On June 17, 2014, the Board of Supervisors approved a social media policy governing the use of various online engagement tools by County employees for business communication purposes. The County Administrator requested the Office of Communications and Media, with assistance from County Counsel, develop guidelines for use and training. Input and direction from the Internal Operations Committee in 2013 and 2014 shaped the contents of the umbrella policy. Due to staffing and resource limitations, the implementation of the policy was deferred to 2016. Unfortunately, the policy was never rolled out as an Administrative Bulletin and trainings were not provided on what is now Vector Solutions, per the Internal Operations Committee direction in 2016.

The Office of Communication and Media and public information officers countywide have extensively researched best practices in implementing government social media policies. Based on that research, staff has updated the 2014 social media policy (Attachment 2), developed a new supplemental guide for best practices (Attachment 3), and will create an intranet-based website that will provide County social media administrators with guidelines for use of the

primary social media tools currently being utilized. The County holds more than 100 social media accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter, NextDoor, Youtube and Flickr. As more tools emerge, they will be added to the guide.

Office of Communications and Media Director Kristi Jourdan presented to the Internal Operations Committee, on July 10, 2023, her recommendations for updating the County's social media policy and, also, plans to offer training to County staff (Attachment 1). The policy has been revised to add definitions; guidance on information and a process to post, usage during emergencies, records retention, safety and security; and a protocol for correcting mistakes or removing information. The updated policy also incorporates a social media comment policy that explains what the County will and will not tolerate on its pages.

The goal of the updated policy is to generate content, not to stifle content. The updated policy provides flexibility for the differing needs of County departments. With Board approval, staff intends to format and promulgate the updated social media policy/playbook as an Administrative Bulletin for reference by all employees. The Vector Solutions training modules and intranet site with guidelines for use and other resources are expected to be ready for use by December 1, 2023, allowing the policy to go into full effect before the end of the year.

The Internal Operations Committee has asked communications staff to work with County departments to emphasize digital hygiene (keeping devices well-organized and current in terms of software and security) and also to notify or "tag" the Supervisorial District Offices about posted social media content that pertains to a specific supervisorial district.

CLERK'S ADDENDUM

APPROVED updates to the County's social media policy, as modified today to:

Clarify in the language that the public may ‘comment’ on matters on a County media platform versus ‘post’ to it;
State that County departments must moderate comments by outside users;
State that departments will confer with the Supervisorial district office when posting an item specific to that district;
State that no policy change or alteration of the Administrative Bulletin may be made without the approval of the Board of Supervisors.