NPCA

Social Media Policy

Last Updated: January 22, 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

POLICY STATEMENT........................................................................2
DEFINITIONS.................................................................................2
OBJECTIVES...................................................................................2
GUIDING PRINCIPLES......................................................................2
DISCLOSURE AND TRANSPARENCY..................................................2
RESPECTFULNESS..........................................................................2
PERSONAL PRIVACY.......................................................................2
TRADE SECRETS.............................................................................3
SECURITY......................................................................................3
LEGAL MATTERS............................................................................3
LINKS TO LAWS THAT APPLY...........................................................4
THE PRIVACY ACT.............................................................................................. 4
BILL 168......................................................................................................... 5
POLICY STATEMENT

DEFINITIONS

OBJECTIVES

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

DISCLOSURE AND TRANSPARENCY

RESPECTFULNESS

PERSONAL PRIVACY

TRADE SECRETS

SECURITY

1. The use of cameras or other visual recording devices is prohibited at

facilities or complexes, unless approved in advance by the Director of
Communication or CAO of the Conservation Authority as well as parties
of the External Communications or Public Affairs.

2. The creation of text messages, text notes, text descriptions, emails,

photographs, sketches, pictures, drawing, maps or graphical
representations or explanations of facility or complex is prohibited
without first obtaining permission from Director of Communication or
CAO of the Conservation Authority as well as parties of the External
Communications or Public Affairs.

3. Whether internal or external, social media communications are

never private. Sharing of any information via social media channels
that could comprise the security of the NPCA or any organization that it
is affiliated with is prohibited.

LEGAL MATTERS
1. For your protection, and the protection of the NPCA, employees
using social media channels are expected to do so without infringing
on the copyrights of others. Employees are prohibited from engaging in
any activities via social media channels that interferes with the
copyrights of others.
2. For your protection, and the protection of the NPCA, employees are
prohibited from using internal or external social media channels for
evaluating the performance of their co-workers, business partners or

vendors.
3. For your protection, and the protection of the NPCA, employees are
prohibited from using internal or external social media channels to
publicly criticize or complain about the behavior or actions of an
customer.
4. For your protection, and the protection of the NPCA employees are
prohibited from using internal or external social media channels to
discuss trade secrets, legal matters, litigation or our financial
performance. When asked by others to discuss any of these matters,
employees should relay that our social media policy only allows
authorized employees to discuss these types of matters but I can refer
you to someone on our communications team for more information
and refer the question to an appropriate Communications team
member of the NPCA.
5. In some circumstances, it may be permissible to share an excerpt
from a copyrighted work in a social media disclosure, so long as that
copyrighted work is publicly available on the internet. These guidelines
apply to sharing of copyrighted works that are publicly available on the
Internet:
a. Employees may share links to copyrighted works hosted by
copyright owners or their resellers without obtaining the permission of
the copyright owner. When sharing links to copyrighted works in social
media disclosures, employees may include an original description of
the link theyre sharing, without the copyright owners approval.
b. Employees may share an excerpt of up to 140 characters with
spaces from a copyrighted work, so long as a link to where that work is
publicly available on the internet is included in their social media
disclosure and provided that they are not blatantly using social media
for the sole purpose of undermining the financial objectives of the
copyright owner.
c. Employees may embed copyrighted content in their social media
accounts, and share embeddable content in their social media
disclosures, so long as the embed code has been provided by a rightful
copyright owner or reseller.
d. In circumstances like disasters or emergencies, where the publics
right to know outweighs the financial objectives of a copyright owner,
employees may share copyrighted works without the permission of the

copyright owner. An example could be photographs uploaded to social

media channels of a disaster to help others stay out of harm's way.
LINKS TO LAWS THAT APPLY
THE PRIVACY ACT
Privacy Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. P-21)
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P%2D21/

BILL 168
Bill 168, Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act
(Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) 2009
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2181
s
SOCIAL MEDIA DISCLAIMER
The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority promises to maintain courteous and
professional conduct for all of our social media content. We ask that anyone using
these social media sites does the same. Comments that are posted to our social
media sites that contain the following content will be deled:

Abusive or harassing language directed at the NPCA as an organization or

focused at any staff or affiliates of the NPCA.
Any use of offensive language
Spam or any content that includes SPAM.
Commercial or campaign messaging

If you have any questions about the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authoritys
social media usage or our policy feel free to contact Mary Stack, Director of
Communications at mstack@npca.ca