Social Media Guidelines

While it is the duty of the City to provide residents, visitors, and the general public with an avenue to give feedback and voice concerns and opinions, we must also create a space where all members of the public feel safe and comfortable to do so. To assist in this endeavor, the City has developed a series of content guidelines which all users interacting with City of Midland social media accounts must follow.

Prohibited Content Guidelines

The following types of content are prohibited from being posted on, sent to, or utilized on a City of Midland social media platform:

1. Profane or obscene language or content;

2. Content that promotes or perpetuates discrimination against protected classes;

3. Content intended to sexually harass others;

4. Content that encourages or promotes illegal activity;

5. Spam, including multiple messages from the same user containing the same content, or content intended to sell a product or service;

6. Content that violates intellectual property interests of any third party (i.e. copyright or trademark infringement);

7. Content that includes sensitive personal identifying information about a City staff member, elected official, or another social media user, including, but not limited to social security numbers, financial account numbers, home or workplace addresses, personal phone numbers, or driver’s license numbers.

a. A workplace address may be considered acceptable for a City staff member if it is relevant for the purposes of meeting with or communicating with the staff member in the course of his or her employment.

8. Information that may compromise the safety or security of the public, including public systems and infrastructure;

9. Threats of violence towards a City staff member, an elected official, another social media user, or any other individual or group; 

10. “Trolling” - posting inflammatory or inappropriate comments or content for the purpose of upsetting other users and provoking an emotional response or disrupting on-topic discussion.

Failure to abide by these guidelines after warning may result in users' comments being removed, hidden, and/or their accounts being blocked from communicating with City social media channels.

Guidelines for City of Midland Social Media Account Managers

In return, our staff is also held to a set of standards for managing our social media accounts. These standards below ensure that the City's social channels remain a respectful, friendly, and safe place for all people.

Content created or shared by City social media accounts should not:

1. Contain language or content that is profane or obscene;

2. Promotes or perpetuate discrimination against protected classes;

3. Sexually harass others or coerce others into

4. Encourage or promote illegal activity;

5. Target, name, or identify a specific resident, elected official, City staff member orother individual or group for the purpose of shaming, bullying, harassing, or disparaging them.