Social media

Policy on the acceptable use of social media 

• Rules and guidance for the public

The following statement will be published on all council social media to set out our policy on acceptable use of these platforms by the public. The statement reads: 

The Highland Council uses Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn to keep people informed about the services that we provide, including the outcomes of committee meetings and other key events like election results. We may also use online blogs to ask for views and feedback on certain topics such as budget consultations. 

Our social media sites are administered by Council staff and are generally monitored during normal office hours. They are not routinely monitored 24/7. 

Please don’t use Facebook or Twitter to report a service fault or to make a complaint. For help with services, to report a fault or make a complaint, please read about other ways to contact customer services.

If you have concerns about a child, please find out about who to contact.

To make a Freedom of Information request please use our email form or write to Freedom of Information Officer, Chief Executive's Office, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX. 

We reserve the right to remove any contributions or block accounts to our social media sites that break the following rules or guidelines: 

• Be civil, tasteful and relevant. 
• Do not post messages that are unlawful, prejudicial to court proceedings, abusive, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, libellous, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or racially offensive. 
• Do not swear
• Do not make offensive remarks about someone else
• Do not post content copied from elsewhere, for which you do not own the copyright
• Do not post the same message, or very similar messages, more than once (also called "spamming")
• Do not publicise your, or anyone else's, personal information, such as contact details
• Do not advertise products or services
• Do not impersonate someone else 

Source: Report to Finance Housing and Resources Committee – 30 January 2013 

• Policy and guidance on the acceptable use of social media
• Our guidance for staff and elected members