Mnquma Local Municipality Draft Social Media Policy

Mnquma Local Municipality Draft Social Media Policy

“Mnquma Local Municipality is committed to open and transparent communication and will communicate to its citizenry using a variety of tools including social media”

Table of Contents

1.Background

2.Problem Statement

3.Legal Framework

4.What is Social Media

5.Purpose

6.SCOPE

7.Responsibilities

7.1Municipal Manager

7.2Communications Manager (with the support of Communications and marketing Officer)

8.Governing Rules and Regulations

9.Mainstream Social Media in Place which we can explore.

9.1Facebook

9.2Twitter

9.3YouTube

9.4Blog

1. Background

The South African Government has over the years become notorious for being reactive communicators. This is especially prevalent at the Local Government level, where Municipalities in particular, are more often than not riddled with service delivery protests. These protests are at times attributed to miscommunication or even a general lack of information sharing. It is for this reason that Government Communicators need to understand the strategic importance of communication in preventing these protests which are a huge burden on South African Taxpayers.Social Media has gained widespread acceptance in most spheres of government worldwide as it provides an opportunity for speedy two way communication between government and the electorate, reducing thered-tape bureaucracy which is usually associated with mainstream communication in government.

1. Problem Statement

Government Communication is developmental in its nature, as the primary goal of it is empowering communities through information/communication. As Communicators we need to constantly devise creative approaches to communication as opposed to mainstream communication channels, in order to reach all sectors of the economy. That means that as we admit to have different stakeholders/target audiences (council, administration, ratepayers, publics, activist groups, big business, government) we cannot have a blanket approach to communicate to all these stakeholders, we need to devise the most effective means of communication for each stakeholder group, we need to maximise our communication in order to uphold, cleanse and promote the Municipalities reputation.The face of media as it was previously known has evolved. Mainstream media is no longer the only source of media as can be seen in this diagram:

1. Legal Framework

• As enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic Of South Africa (1996):

Chapter 2 (Bill Of Rights), Section 32: Access to Information is listed as a right of the citizenry

(1)Everyone has the right of access to

1. Any information held by the state

• The pre 1994 apartheid lead government was secretive in nature and years after the first democratically elected government took office, the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 0f 2000 (PAIA) was developed in order to promote sharing of information, and fulfil wishes enshrined in the constitution.
• Principle 8 of the King Report on Good Governance for South Africa 2009 ( King III), is dedicated to stakeholder management and how this directly affects an organisations reputation .
• Local Government Municipal Systems Act, No. 32 of 2000, Chapter 4: Community Participation
• GCIS Social Media Policy Guide

1. What is Social Media

“Social Media is one of the platforms which can be used by the general public using highly accessible digital technologies like social networks, blogs, and podcasts amongst others. of the new world advances, which have made communication more accessible to people as messages are transmitted in real time.”

For the last decade, social media has sent a strong buzz worldwide, through the advent of social media we have come to live in what Marshall McLuhan foresaw as the“global village.”

Social Networks are supposed to promote dialogue, but some municipalities tend not to take into account that social interaction is the main purpose of social networking, they tend to restrict the tool so interaction is only outward, so it appears as though they are looking for another way of distributing their information.

1. Purpose

The purpose of the policy is to govern the use of social media sites in order to promote the communication agenda of MLM, while protecting and promoting the Municipality’s image

The primary goals of the using social media are as follows:

• To increase awareness of Municipal services
• Complementthe existing communication methods and processes
• Provide an additional platform through which MLM keeps abreast of ratepayer and general public comments and perceptions regarding the municipality.(it will assist as a form of environmental scanning)
• Disseminate urgent information quickly
• Correct misinformation, remedy mistakes or alter services to build strong relationships
• Provide another method by which stakeholders can engage with the municipality
• Use social media as another way to collaborate with the public, business and other municipalities on mutually beneficial programmes and initiatives

1. SCOPE

• This policy applies to social media use for official and authorised MLM purposes
• It will apply to all city employees who are authorised to post information on the Municipalities social media sites in an official capacity on behalf of MLM
• It doesn’t apply to personal use of social media conducted on personal equipment
• Communication through social media should comply with all other relevant municipal policies, procedures and guidelines. ( Communications Strategy, Code of Conduct and ICT Policy)

1. Responsibilities
2. Municipal Manager

• As the Chief Information Officer, s/he will directcompliance, in terms of the social media policy.

7.2Communications Manager (withthe support of Communications and marketing Officer)

• Monitor the policy and accompanying procedures if any.
• Provides training and guidance to personnel and initiates document review.
• Will review the policy once a year from date of adoption.
• Approves and oversees social media sites and tools for official corporate us
• Ensures consistency of messaging and imaging for all corporate social media sites, to avoid confusion and miscommunication
• Oversees allsocial media siteaccounts including their creation and destruction
• Maintains a list of site domain names and social media accounts including login and password information

1. Governing Rules and Regulations

• The Municipality’s website, will remain the city’s primary online source of information. Social media will be used to complement the website and broaden the reach.
• No confidential information will be posted onto any social media under any circumstance
• Comments containing any of the following shall not be allowed on the MLM social media sites and may be removed by the Municipal Relations Unit:
• Comments not topically related to the particular site
• Profane language and content
• Content that promotes discrimination on the basis of race, colour, age, religion, gender, marital status, national origin, physical or mental disability and sexual orientation.
• Sexual content or links to sexual content
• Content related to non-municipal related sales, advertising or promotions ( commercial advertising)
• Content for the purposes of promoting a candidate for municipal, provincial or national election.

1. Mainstream Social Media in Place which we can explore.

There is a variety of social media platforms which are used to engage the public, like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wordpress/blogging, Instagram, Pintererest, etc. Considering the demographics of the municipality, the ones which the municipality will use are the following:

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a Blog

9.1Facebook

• Currently have a Facebook Page with 160 followers
• administered by the communications unit
• The process of answering questions will be the same as the one stipulated in the communication strategy: sending to relevant department and then sending and answer.
• Posting onto the page will be done as frequently as possible, however at least once a week is the minimum.
• Content to be shared is about events, departmental collaborations, awareness campaigns, links on stories, vacancies, tenders, etc. to direct traffic to the MLM Website.

Proposed Facebook Introductory Statement:

Welcome to Mnquma Local Municipality’s Official Facebook Page. We look forward to a healthy dialogue with you. However, before posting to our page please note that the information on this page is for purposes of sharing municipal, inter-municipal as we as Intergovernmental related information only. MLM is not responsible for the comments made by users of this page and reserves the right to remove any content that it deems as inappropriate.

9.2Twitter

• We currently do not have a twitter account, and we will open a new one.
• Some people have a better appreciation of Twitter as a social media platform, because they associate it with relevance. So this will cater for people who are not on Facebook, and a lot of dialogue happens more on this platform.

9.3YouTube

• We currently do not have a YouTube account and will also open a new one.
• This account will load all our video clips.

9.4Blog

• We currently do not have a blog
• Once active, the blog will be written by the office of the Mayor/Bimonthly or weekly.
• The blog will be on issues of a developmental nature, upcoming projects, social interaction, etc.
• The Blog is also intended to bring the Mayor to the people, because through a blog, two way communication occurs.

The Manager Municipal Relations will be responsible for ensuring adherence of this policy, training employees on it as well as review of the policy.