Social Media Policy

The Madera County Transportation Commission (“MCTC”) has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is spoken on behalf of MCTC through the use of social media sites (including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter).

This policy provides guidelines for the establishment and use of social media by MCTC and its staff, as a means of conveying information about MCTC and its events and activities to its residents.

For purposes of this policy, “social media” is understood to be content created by individuals, using accessible, expandable, and upgradable publishing technologies, through and on the Internet. Examples of social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, blogs, etc.

For purposes of this policy, comments include information, articles, pictures, videos, or any other form of communicative content posted on a MCTC social media site.

This Social Media Policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use of Social Media by MCTC as a means of conveying information about MCTC and its events and activities. The intended purpose behind establishing MCTC’s Social Media sites is to disseminate information from MCTC, about MCTC, to the residents of Madera County. Nothing in this policy shall be applied to prohibit or infringe upon any communication, speech, or expression that is protected or privileged under law. This includes speech and expression protected under state or federal constitutions as well as labor laws or other applicable laws.

General Policy

  1. MCTC Social Media sites should make clear that they are maintained by MCTC and that they follow MCTC’s Social Media Policy.
  2. Wherever possible, MCTC Social Media sites should link back to the official MCTC website for forms, documents, online services, and other information necessary to conduct business with MCTC.
  3. Designated Social Media Administrators will monitor content on MCTC Social Media sites to ensure adherence to both MCTC’s Social Media Policy and the interest and goals of MCTC.
  4. MCTC reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this Social Media Policy or any applicable law. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by the designated Social Media Administrator(s) for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available.
  5. These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.
  6. MCTC will approach the use of Social Media tools as consistently as possible, enterprise wide.
  7. MCTC’s website at http://www.maderactc.org will remain MCTC’s primary and predominant Internet presence.
  8. All MCTC Social Media sites shall adhere to applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
  9. MCTC Social Media sites are subject to the California Public Records Act. Any content maintained in Social Media format that is related to MCTC business, including a list of subscribers, posted communication, and communication submitted for posting, may be a public record subject to public disclosure. For Public Records Act requests, please contact MCTC directly.
  10. Comments on topics or issues not within the jurisdictional purview of MCTC may be removed.
  11. Employees representing MCTC via MCTC Social Media sites must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of MCTC and in accordance with all MCTC policies.
  12. This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time.

Comment Policy

  1. As a public entity MCTC must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
  2. Comments or content containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted and are subject to removal and/or restriction by MCTC: 
    1. Comments not related to the business of MCTC or not relevant to the original topic;
    2. Violent, profane, obscene, or pornographic content and/or language;
    3. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or national origin;
    4. Content that threatens or defames any person or organization;
    5. Content that is hateful or incites violence;
    6. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to, advertising of any non-government related event, or business or product for sale;
    7. Conduct in violation of any federal, state, or local law;
    8. Encouragement of any illegal activity;
    9. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
    10. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party.
  3. A comment posted by a member of the public on any MCTC Social Media site is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, MCTC, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of MCTC.
  4. MCTC reserves the right to deny access to MCTC Social Media sites for any individual who violates MCTC’s Social Media Policy, at any time and without prior notice.
  5. MCTC shall monitor MCTC Social Media Sites for comments requesting responses from MCTC and for comments in violation of this policy.
  6. When an MCTC employee responds to a comment, in his/her capacity as a MCTC employee, the employee’s name and title should be made available, and the employee shall not share personal information about himself or herself, or other MCTC employees.
  7. All comments posted to the MCTC Facebook site are bound by Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, located at http://www.facebook.com/terms.php, and MCTC reserves the right to report any violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to Facebook with the intent of Facebook taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.
  8. All comments posted to the MCTC Twitter site are bound by Twitter's Terms of Service, located at https://twitter.com/tos, and MCTC reserves the right to report any violation of Twitter's Terms of Service to Twitter with the intent of Twitter taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.
  9. All comments posted to the MCTC Instagram site are bound by Instagram’s Terms of Service, located at https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870/?helpref=uf_share, and MCTC reserves the right to report any violation of Instagram’s Terms of Service to Instagram with the intent of Instagram taking appropriate and reasonable responsive action.

Reporting/Removal of Unauthorized Comments

MCTC requires that designated Social Media Administrators immediately notify the Executive Director if there is any posted material that may be inappropriate, that violates this Policy, or any MCTC policy, is illegal, or that potentially infringes the copyrights or other rights of any persons. The Executive Director will investigate and respond to all reports of potential violations of this Policy.

Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained by MCTC for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date, and identity of the poster, when available. Upon removal of content, the Social Media Administrator shall notify the commenter that their response has been deemed inappropriate and removed due to inconsistency with MCTC’s content requirements.

MCTC reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to deny access to the Social Media site to any individual who violates this Policy.

Terms of Service

Each type of Social Media maintains a “Terms of Use” agreement. All comments posted to any MCTC Social Media Site are bound by these Terms of Use and MCTC reserves the right to report any user violation.

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