Social Media Policies
Having a social media policy in place for your agency or department will help ensure employees understand their obligations for both official and non-official (or personal) social media usage.
Requirement
Each NSW Government department must implement a whole-of-department non-official (employee) use of social media policy.
Non-official social media policy
At a minimum, your non-official social media policy should cover:
- definitions of social media
- how all employees are expected to demonstrate the government sector core values of integrity, trust, service and accountability when using social media in a personal capacity
- relevant department policies that apply to the employee’s use of social media including Code of Conduct, intellectual property and privacy policies
- how employees can use social media in a professional capacity and as advocates
- expectations for accessing personal social media on work devices and during work hours.
- consequences for breaching the policy.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ for non-official social media policies. Your agency may have specific requirements that aren’t covered in this list. We recommend developing your non-official social media policy in collaboration with internal experts, including social media, media, legal, and human resources teams.
Example non-official social media policies
The guides below are intended to be used as an example only, as each organisation’s policy will need to align with their internal employee policies.
NSW Government
Australian Government
Official social media policy
Your official social media policy should outline how social media is used to undertake official departmental business. Your official social media policy may include:
- how social media professionals in your department should manage official accounts
- how suppliers and partners can refer to your agency on social media
- community management policies and guidelines
- your agency’s position on influencers and social media spokespeople
- record-keeping and archiving requirements
- how to protect the personal information and privacy of customers
- the public sector values that employees should abide by
- other relevant internal policies.
Example social media policies
NSW Government
Australian Government
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts