[Adopted 5-20-2024 by Res. No. 2024-84]
A. 
This policy sets forth guidelines for the establishment and use by the Township of Delanco ("the Township") of its social media sites (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram) as a means of conveying Township-related information to its residents, employees and visitors. The Township has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is "spoken" on behalf of the Township on its social media sites.
B. 
The purpose of this social media policy is to establish enforceable rules for the use of social media by Township officers and employees when engaged in Township business. Social media at this time refers to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and any other communication that is open to response or comment. Rules are necessary to assure that communications made on behalf of the Township are properly authorized and in correct form; that communications to the municipality by means of social media which can be viewed by the public are appropriate and pertinent; that all communications to the municipality is related to the posted municipal information; and that the sender is clearly and fully informed that a message received by means of social media is not a substitute for required reporting procedures.
C. 
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 include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. For purposes of this policy, "comments" include information, articles, and pictures.
This policy shall apply to all municipal departments, boards and commissions.
The objective of the use of social media by the Township or its departments is to expand and facilitate the dissemination of information from the Township to its residents, taxpayers and the general public.
A. 
No Township social media site shall be established without prior approval of the Township Committee.
(1) 
The following social media sites are approved under the direction of the Chief of Police:
(a) 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelancoPD
(b) 
Twitter/X:
(c) 
Instagram:
(d) 
YouTube:
(2) 
The following social media sites are approved under the direction of the Township Administrator or his/her designee:
(a) 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelancoTownship (reserved, inactive).
(b) 
Twitter/X:
(c) 
Instagram:
(d) 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DelancoTownshipInformation
(3) 
The following social media sites are approved under the direction of the Delanco Township Recreation Commission:
(a) 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delancorecreation/
(b) 
Twitter/X:
(c) 
Instagram:
(d) 
YouTube:
(4) 
The following social media sites are approved under the direction of the Delanco Township Office of Emergency Management:
(a) 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelancoOEM
(b) 
Twitter/X:
(c) 
Instagram:
(d) 
YouTube:
(5) 
The above referenced social media sites and any social media sites approved in the future are hereinafter referred to individually as a "Township Social Media Site" or collectively as "Township Social Media Sites."
B. 
The Township social media sites shall clearly set forth that they are maintained by the Township and that they follow this Social Media Policy.
C. 
Wherever possible, the Township social media sites should link back to the official Township website for forms, documents, online services and other information necessary to conduct business with the Township.
D. 
The Township social media sites are not to be used for making any official communications to the Township, for example, reporting crimes or misconduct, reporting dangerous conditions, requesting an inspection, giving notice required by any statute, by ordinance or regulations such as but not limited notices of claim. Prominent notice of this paragraph shall be displayed on every Township social media site, along with the appropriate contact information for submitting official communications.
E. 
This social media policy shall be placed on the Township website and all Township social media sites.
F. 
The Township Administrator and/or his/her designee shall monitor Township social media sites to ensure adherence to both this Social Media Policy and the interest and goals of the Township. The Township has the right and will 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 will be retained by the Township Administrator and/or her/her designee pursuant to the applicable Township retention policy, including the time, date and identity of the poster, when available.
G. 
These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.
H. 
The Township will approach the use of social media tools as consistently as possible, Township-wide.
I. 
The Township website at delancotownship.com will remain the Township's primary and predominant internet presence.
J. 
The Township social media sites and this Policy are subject to all applicable federal and New Jersey laws and regulations, as well as applicable record retention requirements.
K. 
Employees and volunteers representing the Township's government via the Township social media sites shall conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the Township and in accordance with all its policies especially the Township of Delanco Communication Media Policy for employee behavior in the Township of Delanco JIF Personnel Manual.
L. 
This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time by approval of the Township Committee.
M. 
This policy governs all social media use by or on behalf of the Township and/or its departments.
N. 
All Township presence and activity on social media are an integral part of the Township's information networks and must comply with all rules and policies governing the Township's computers and electronic media, including but not limited to the applicable JIF Municipal Internet Access and Use Guidelines.
O. 
All Township use of social media is responsible for complying with applicable federal, state, and county laws, regulations, and policies. This includes adherence to established laws and policies regarding copyright, records retention, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Open Public Record Act (OPRA), First Amendment, privacy laws, sunshine laws, and information security policies (if applicable) established by the Municipality.
P. 
All municipal policies are applicable to interactions on Township social media sites when acting in an official capacity and representing the municipality.
Q. 
No "friending" or other special relationship between a Township employee and a third person is permitted on, or working on, a Township social media sites.
R. 
Social media is run by a third party separate from the Township and Township social media sites occasionally become inoperable. The Township reserves the right to disable its social media accounts either temporarily or permanently at any time. There is no guarantee of "uptime."
S. 
Comment policy.
(1) 
As a public entity the Township must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
(2) 
The intended purpose behind establishing the Township social media sites is to disseminate information one way from the Township about the Township to its residents, employees and visitors.
(3) 
Wherever possible, any posts on any Township social media sites shall be posted with the option to turn commenting by the public to "off" at the time of posting.
(4) 
To the extent commenting is turned "on" or cannot be turned "off," the following provisions apply:
(a) 
A comment posted by a member of the public on any Township social media sites is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the Township, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Township.
(b) 
All comments posted to any Township social media sites are bound by any applicable terms and conditions of the Terms and Conditions, Terms of Service, Statement of Rights and Responsibilities or similar policies as indicated on the individual social media website, and the Township reserves the right to report any violation of such policies to the social media company with the intent of the social media company taking appropriate and reasonable responsible action. All Township policies are applicable to interactions on social media sites when acting in an official capacity and representing the Township.
(c) 
Township municipal employee, elected officials, vendor performing work or services to the Township or volunteer may post or comment on a Township social media site.
(d) 
Persons posting prohibited content (as hereinafter defined) are subject to being barred from posting comments on Township social media sites.
A. 
Posts or comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content ("Prohibited Content") shall not be permitted on the Township's social media sites and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the Township Administrator and/or Chief of Police and/or his/her designees and/or the particular administrator for a particular Township social media site, as applicable:
(1) 
Profane, obscene, violent, or pornographic content and/or language, or sexually suggestive or explicit content links to such materials. Any image or link containing minors or suspected minors in sexual and/or provocative situations will be reported to law enforcement;
(2) 
Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, or national origin, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation;
(3) 
Defamatory attacks;
(4) 
Threats to any person or organization;
(5) 
Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
(6) 
Conduct in violation of any federal, state or local law;
(7) 
Encouragement of illegal activity or illegal activity;
(8) 
Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
(9) 
Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party the Township does not permit or allow copyright infringing activities and/or infringement of intellectual property rights on its website or social media sites and will remove any and all content and submissions if properly notified that such content and/or submission infringes on another's intellectual property rights;
(10) 
Private contact information such as names, addresses and phone numbers no matter how easily obtained elsewhere;
(11) 
Personal information of a person other than the poster;
(12) 
Spamming or repetitive content;
(13) 
Comments from children under 13 cannot be posted in order to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. By posting on a Township media site, users acknowledge that they are at least 13 years old. Parents are responsible for any minor child's posting or comments;
(14) 
Content that incites violence;
(15) 
Photographs or videos;
(16) 
Comments unrelated to the particular post being commented upon;
(17) 
Comments containing vulgar, offensive, threatening, or harassing language, personal attacks, or unsupported accusations; and,
(18) 
Political statements/messaging. Messages regarding any individual political candidate are prohibited, but general messaging on "getting out to vote" and poll locations information are permitted.
B. 
Persons posting prohibited content are subject to being barred from posting comments on Township social media.
A. 
The Township Administrator, Chief of Police, Emergency Management Coordinator, or Recreation Commission Chairperson and/or his/her designee (or, as applicable, any future approved administrator for any future Township social media sites) may be required to remove internet postings on Township social media sites which are deemed to constitute a breach of Policy, subject to applicable archiving and retention requirements.
B. 
Any attempt to hack of otherwise compromise the Township's internet or social media sites will be reported to law enforcement and the perpetrator will be denied access to the sites.
C. 
The Township reserves the right to deny access to its social media sites for any individual who violates the Township of Delanco social media policy at any time and without prior notice.
D. 
Nothing in this Township of Delanco social media policy is intended to govern or restrict any Township employee, elected official or volunteer from using their own social media accounts to express their views on any of their own personal social media sites other third-party social media sites or any non-Township social media site. Any views expressed by a Township employee, elected official or volunteer posted on any non-Township social media site are those of the individual posting and do not represent the views of the Township of Delanco.
A. 
Any Township social media site remains the property of the Township, including all the followers and friends generated by the site. If the person who created the site leaves the employment of the Township, they must relinquish everything related to the site including user names, passwords and/or access codes or information.
B. 
A particular Township social media site may require a Township employee/volunteer to use their own personal social media account to log into/act as the Township for a particular Township social media site. All Township social media sites that require a personal social media account shall have a minimum of three individuals that shall have access to the particular Township social media sites, one of which shall be the Township Administrator and/or his/her designee.
C. 
To prevent any hacking/disabling/unauthorized access of Township social media sites, any individuals that have access to a particular Township social media site shall have Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled on their individual account. If a particular Township social media site has the ability for a direct-login to the Township social media site without the use of an employee/volunteer's login, such account shall have Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled.
A. 
Information Disclaimer
By visiting this site, you understand and agree that the Township of Delanco local government site is provided "AS IS". Township of Delanco local government makes every effort to provide accurate and complete information on this website. The information contained herein is not official nor in any way shall it be deemed to constitute legal notice where such legal notice is required by law. The information contained in this site is provided as a service and convenience to people needing information about Township of Delanco local government. Portions of the information on this site may be incorrect or not current. Township of Delanco local government, its officers, employees or agents shall not be liable for damages or losses of any kind arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information, including but not limited to, damages or losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy or timeliness of any such information, or damages incurred from the viewing, distributing, or copying of those materials.
B. 
Linking Policy - Links To External Sites
The Township of Delanco local government site contains links to outside websites. These websites are not owned, operated, controlled or reviewed by the Township of Delanco local government. These links are provided solely as a courtesy and convenience to you, the visitor.
The Township of Delanco local government, its officers or employees, exercise no control over the organizations, views, accuracy, copyright or trademark, compliance or the legality of the material contained in these outside websites. The Township of Delanco local government, its officers or employees, do not sponsor, endorse, or approve the information, content, proceeds, materials, opinions or services contained on such outside websites. The visitor proceeds to these outside websites at his/her own risk. The Township of Delanco local government specifically disclaims any and all liability from damages, which may result from the accessing of a third-party site, which is linked to the Township of Delanco local government website or from reliance upon only such information.
C. 
Endorsement Disclaimer
Reference in this website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Township of Delanco local government or its officers, employees or agents.
D. 
Copyright and Trademark Limitations
Township of Delanco local government makes no warranty that materials contained herein are free of copyright or trademark claims or other restrictions or limitations on free use or display. Making a copy of such material may be subject to copyright or trademark laws.
E. 
Use of material from this site
The Township of Delanco local government has made the content of these pages available to the public and anyone may view, copy or distribute Township of Delanco local government information found here without obligation to the Township of Delanco local government for non-commercial, personal use only, unless otherwise stated on particular material or information to which a restriction on free use may apply.
The design of this site, original graphics, and original content are all copyrighted by the Township of Delanco and may not be re-engineered, distributed, modified, transmitted, re-used, reposted, or duplicated without the express written permission of the Township of Delanco in each instance. All requests to use any part of the original design, code, graphics or content of this site should be made via e-mail to the Township Administrator.
F. 
Unauthorized Modifications
Unauthorized attempts to modify or otherwise alter any information or image stored on any Township of Delanco local government website may result in criminal prosecution.