This is an automated transcription (OCR) of the captured
official document — minor recognition errors are possible; the source
document governs.
Snapshot 1df3b8f110f0 · verified 2026-06-10 ·
original document ·
archived snapshot ·
unofficial consolidation, the official version is held by the municipal clerk.
## Purpose
This policy establishes guidelines for the establishment and use by the Village of MerrickvilleWolford on of social media sites (including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter) as a means of conveying municipal information to its citizens.
The intended purpose behind establishing Village of Merrickville-Wolford social media sites is to disseminate information from the Municipality, about the Municipality, to its citizens.
The municipality has an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is "spoken" on behalf of the municipality on its social media sites.
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, blogs, MySpace, RSS, YouTube, Second Life, Twitter, Linkedin, Delicious, and Flicker. For purposes of this policy, "comments" include information, articles, pictures, videos or any other form of communicative content posted on a Village of Merrickville-Wolford social media site.
## General Policy
1. The establishment and use by any municipal department of social media sites are subject to approval by the Chief Administrative Officer or his/her designate.
2. All Village of Merrickville-Wolford social media sites shall be administered by the Economic Development Officer. Municipal social media sites shall contain a statement that they are maintained by the Village of Merrickville-Wolford and that they follow the municipality's Social Media Policy.
3. Wherever possible, municipal social media sites should link back to the official Village of Merrickville-Wolford website for forms, documents, online services and other information necessary to conduct business with the Village of Merrickville-Wolford.
4. The Economic Development Officer will monitor content on municipal social media sites to ensure adherence to both the Social Media Policy and the interest and goals of the Village of Merrickville-Wolford
5. The Municipality 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 for a reasonable period of time, including the time, date and identity of the user, when available.
<!-- image -->
## VILLAGE OF MERRICKVILLE-WOLFORD
## SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Adopted on October 28, 2013
6. These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink.
7. The Municipality will approach the use of social media tools as consistently as possible, enterprise wide.
8. The Village of Merrickville-Wolford's website at www.Merrickville-Wolford.ca will remain the Municipality's primary and predominant internet presence.
9. All municipal social media sites shall adhere to applicable federal, provincial and local laws, regulations and policies.
10. Comments on topics or issues not within the jurisdictional purview of the Village of Merrickville-Wolford may be removed.
11. Employees representing the municipal government via municipal social media sites must conduct themselves at all times as a representative of the Municipality and in accordance with all Municipality policies.
12. This Social Media Policy may be revised at any time.
## Comment Policy
1. As a public entity the Municipality must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
2. The intended purpose behind establishing Village of Merrickville-Wolford social media sites is to disseminate information from the Municipality, about the municipality, to its citizens.
3. Comments containing any of the following inappropriate forms of content shall not be permitted on Village of Merrickville-Wolford social media sites and are subject to removal and/or restriction:
- a. Comments not related to the original topic, including random or unintelligible comments;
- c. Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, or national origin;
- b. Profane, obscene, violent, or pornographic content and/or language;
- d. Defamatory or personal attacks;
- e. Threats to any person or organization;
- f. Comments in support of, or in opposition to, any political campaigns or ballot measures;
- g. Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to advertising of any business or product for sale;
- h. Conduct in violation of any federal, provincial or local law;
12. Encouragement of illegal activity;
- k. Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as a copyright, of any party.
- j. Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; or
4. A comment posted by a member of the public on any Village of Merrickville-Wolford social media site is the opinion of the commentator or user only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the Village of MerrickvilleWolford, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Village of Merrickville-Wolford.
5. The Village of Merrickville-Wolford reserves the right to deny access to the municipal social media sites for any individual, who violates the Village of Merrickville-Wolford's Social Media Policy, at any time and without prior notice.
6. Municipal responses to comments shall be made by the Economic Development Officer and/or his/her designate. Comments requiring a response from specific departments will be forwarded to department managers for response. A statement shall be contained on the social media site that specific requests for service will be directed to the appropriate department.
7. All comments posted to any Village of Merrickville-Wolford Facebook site are bound by
19. Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, located at http://www.facebook.com/terms.php, and the Village of Merrickville-Wolford 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. Members of the public are also welcome to submit event information for inclusion on the Social media site if that event is open to the general public, occurs within the boundaries of the Village of Merrickville-Wolford and meets one of the following criteria:
Organized or funded by a level of government.
Organized by a government-funded agency or board.
Funded in full, or in part, by the Village of Merrickville-Wolford.
Organized by a charitable organization with a registered charitable number and operating within the Village of Merrickville-Wolford.
Organized by a service club operating within the Village of Merrickville-Wolford performing work that benefits the residents.
Organized by the local Chamber of Commerce for general promotional purposes. Located in a facility owned or leased by the Village of Merrickville-Wolford.