Social Media Policy and Guidelines

Using this Fan Page

The purpose of the City of St. Louis’ social media Web sites is to present matters of public interest in the City of St. Louis for its many residents, businesses and visitors. We encourage you to submit your questions, comments and posts to any authorized, official City of St. Louis social media outlet, however please note that they are both monitored and/or moderated for appropriateness according to guidelines established based on industry-wide best practices and liability concerns. 

The City of St. Louis’ social media Web sites are a place for collecting suggestions and new ideas and to encourage conversations among the people it serves, not a substitute channel for services or general questions. Do not submit unsolicited proposals or other business ideas or inquiries through this media; these sites are not to be used for contracting or commercial business. 

Do not submit any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process. The City of St. Louis’ social media Web sites are not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact your local police agency. 

Comments 

We expect conversations to follow the rules of polite discourse and we ask that participants treat each other, as well as our employees, with respect. For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments posted must relate to the topic that is being discussed and/or congruent with the nature of the social media Web site and its nature of business or service. 

We will not allow comments that include: 

• profanity and vulgar or abusive language 
• personal attacks of any kind 
• threats of physical or bodily harm 
• advocating an illegal activity 
• sensitive information (for example, information that could compromise public safety) 
• offensive comments containing terms that target or disparage any ethnic, racial, religious or other groups 
• off-topic comments (if you have topics you'd like to hear more about, please suggest them by submitting e-mail to us at media@stlouis-mo.gov if you have off-topic comments that are relevant to the City of St. Louis or one of its departments or agencies, please send us an e-mail as well) 
• questions from the media 
• infringement or violation of existing copyrights or trademarks 
• spam, or commercial or non-commercial promotion of a business, service or political organization or individual 
• identical posts by the same user (please don't submit over and over expecting the post to show up faster), multiple users (a group of people sending identical messages, or one person submitting under different aliases); in the case of identical posts, we will post the first submission 

If comments containing any of the above-listed restricted content are posted, the City of St. Louis reserves the right to delete submissions that violate any of the above-stated restrictions. 

Please note that the comments expressed by community members of any City of St. Louis’ social media Web site do not reflect the opinions and position of the City of St. Louis’ government or its officers and employees. If you have any questions concerning the operation of this online moderated discussion site, please contact the media@stlouis-mo.gov.

Privacy and Security 

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally-identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers, phone numbers or e-mail addresses in the body of your comment or post. If you do voluntarily include personally-identifiable information in your comment or post, your comment may or may not be removed. If your comment is posted, the City of St. Louis holds no liability in the release of this information. The City of St. Louis will make its best effort to remove any posts that contain personally-identifiable information posted by you or other members of the community. In some cases, you have the option of posting comments anonymously, but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on the site. 

Following or Membership

Being followed by the City of St. Louis, or an entity of the City of St. Louis Government, does not imply endorsement of any kind. If you follow any City of St. Louis social media Web site or account, we may or may not follow you back or join your group or network. Being followed by a City of St. Louis agency does not imply endorsement of any kind. 

Advertising

The City of St. Louis does not accept advertising on its social media Web sites, nor does it allow the promotion or endorsement of any business or other entity. The City of St. Louis may provide information about resources available to the community as it relates directly to its purpose and mission. Any advertising found on a City of St. Louis social media Web site is controlled by the owner of that Web site and not the City-sponsored account holder; the City of St. Louis does not control what advertising appears on these pages as it is operating on a third-party Web site not owned or operated wholly by the City of St. Louis or its departments and agencies. 

Availability

All City of St. Louis social media Web sites are managed by staff or sanctioned agents of the City of St. Louis during regular business hours Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Comments or questions submitted after hours or on weekends may be read by staff members or its authorized agents the next business day. Social media Web sites may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service due to downtime. 

Changes to this Social Media Policy

City of St. Louis may change this policy from time to time, and reserves the right to do so without notice.