In this age of instant communication, much of it through social media, municipalities are struggling with how to get information out to the public while avoiding some of the hazards associated with platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.

That’s why before launching an official town of Scarborough Facebook page in the next few weeks, the Town Council will first consider a policy dictating how the page would be used and who could post to it.

To that end, the council is expected to approve a new social media policy when it meets on Wednesday, Feb. 17, after the Current’s print deadline.

Prior to the meeting, Bill Donovan, the council chairman, said he expects the policy to “be broadly supported.” He said development of the social media rules was non-controversial at the Rules and Policy Committee level.

Donovan believes that the “basic rules of the road should be in place” before the town launches its Facebook page.

Several town departments, including community services, public works and police and fire, already have active Facebook pages, as does the Scarborough Board of Education.

The new town Facebook page would consolidate several of the department-specific pages, according to Donovan, but would not replace the public safety pages, which offer two-way communication with followers.

For now, Donovan said, the official town Facebook page would not be open to two-way use, partly because no one on the staff has been designated to monitor the page to respond to questions and requests for information.

He said the launching of an official town Facebook page is part of the council’s ongoing effort to improve communication with residents and to make them more aware of what’s going on.

More specifically, the town’s use of social media is designed to “demonstrate, underscore and clarify the role of the town of Scarborough, the administration and elected and appointed officials and their profound importance in managing a community,” according to the purpose section of the new policy.

Overall, the social media policy acknowledges that with the “fast-changing landscape of the Internet and the way residents communicate and obtain information online, the town of Scarborough and its departments may (wish to) consider using social media tools to reach a broader audience.”

Although the town is looking to launch an official Facebook page, the new policy would apply to all forms of social media, from YouTube to Twitter.

Because “statements posted on websites and through social media reflect directly on the town of Scarborough and require great care,” the policy requires that all information posted on social media sites be subject to approval by the town manager.

Prior to Wednesday’s council meeting Town Manager Tom Hall said it’s not his goal to micromanage social media posts, but to empower key staff to be able to impart information to the public in a timely manner.

As of now, he said, a department would only need to go through him if it wanted to launch a new page on a social media site not currently being used. Hall also said the new social media policy is just one piece of a broader communications plan he’s working on implementing.

Hall said town staff looked at municipal social media policies around the country while drafting Scarborough’s new rules and the overarching question was “how to best enter this new arena,” he said.

Hall said that with an official municipal Facebook page, the town will to have to wrestle with questions related to open meeting laws and laws governing the retention of public records.

Overall, Hall said, “We feel the benefits outweigh the risks, especially since there’s an ever-increasing number of people we are not reaching” through traditional means. “We need to plug in,” he said.

Hall said the goal for Scarborough is to “emulate South Portland” where many of the municipal departments are quite active on social media, particularly Facebook.

The new social media policy also makes it clear that the town’s official website “will remain (Scarborough’s) primary and predominant Internet presence and social media involvement (should serve) to direct attention to the website.”

The goal of wanting people to use the town website to get their information about what’s going on is one reason the town of Cape Elizabeth has deliberately not created an official Facebook page, according to Town Manager Mike McGovern.

He also said that “there’s a real concern that social media is like the Wild West,” without a concrete set of rules that people follow. While the town does have a Twitter account, McGovern said its use is “very, very limited.”

Like Hall, he acknowledged that the use of social media by municipalities raises a whole host of issues, including how to monitor or whether to monitor comments.

McGovern also said there is a real risk that “issues or debates that should really take place at public meetings,” could erupt on social media. 

He added that “comments can often be cruel or racist,” and asked, “do we really want to provide a vehicle for that to happen?” In all, McGovern concluded that as of right now social media is “too prone to too many problems,” to make it worthwhile for the municipality to have a presence on the various platforms.

To address some of the issues raised by McGovern and other municipal managers, Scarborough’s new social media policy tries to clearly state that the “best, most appropriate uses of social media” is for “disseminating time-sensitive information as quickly as possible” and for marketing or promotion of town news “to the widest possible audience.”

When or if two-way communication is allowed on Scarborough’s official Facebook page, the social media policy also states that “the general rules of decorum shall apply and all participants shall strive to be accurate in their statements and avoid making personal, rude or provocative remarks.”

Posts on town social media sites would be deleted if they are intended or perceived as bullying, are not topically related to the particular post, support or oppose political campaigns or ballot measures, use profane or sexual language or content.

Other items that won’t be allowed are any content that “promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination;” encouragement of illegal activity; or any information that may compromise the safety or security of the public.

The policy also gives the town the right to restrict or remove any content it feels violates its social media rules or violates any local, state or federal laws.

In addition, the new policy also requires the development of operational guidelines, standards for managing social media accounts, standards for branding and standards for design.

While Hall held up South Portland as a model for how a municipality can effectively use social media, the Current was unable to reach City Manager Jim Gailey before its print deadline to find out how or whether the use of social media is governed by a specific policy.

A screen shot of the popular Scarborough Police Department Facebook page, which has more than 14,000 likes.

A screen shot of the popular Scarborough Police Department Facebook page, which has more than 14,000 followers.