Reviewed: March 2024
Review due: March 2025
Rationale
The widespread availability and use of social media applications bring opportunities to understand, engage, and communicate in new and exciting ways. It is important that we are able to use these technologies and services effectively and flexibly. However, it is also important to ensure that we balance this with our duties to our organisation, the community, our legal responsibilities and our reputation.
Our use of social networking applications has implications for our duty to safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults.
The policy requirements in this document aim to provide this balance to support innovation whilst providing a framework of good practice. They apply to all members of staff and volunteers within MCYC.
The purpose of the policy is to:
- Protect MCYC from legal risks
- Ensure that the reputation of MCYC, its staff, volunteers and management is protected
- Safeguard all children
- Ensure that any users are able clearly to distinguish where information provided via social media is legitimately representative of MCYC
- Make clear the responsibility and accountability of individuals
Definitions and Scope
Social networking applications include, but are not limited to: Blogs, Online discussion forums, Collaborative spaces, Media sharing services, ‘Microblogging’ applications, and online gaming environments. Examples include Twitter / X, Facebook, Tik Tok, YouTube, Flickr, Xbox Live, Blogger, Tumblr, Last.fm, and comment streams on public websites such as newspaper site.
Many of the principles of this policy also apply to other types of online presence such as virtual worlds.
All members of staff and volunteers should bear in mind that information they share through social networking applications, even if they are on private spaces, are still subject to copyright, data protection and Freedom of Information legislation, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and other legislation. They must also operate in line with MCYC policy and know that MCYC will take appropriate action, including legal action, if these are breached.
Within this policy there is a distinction between use of MCYC‐sanctioned social media for organisational and marketing purposes, and personal use of social media.
Use of Social Media in practice
1. Personal use of social media
- MCYC staff, volunteers or anyone working within or on behalf of the organisation, should not invite, accept or engage in communications with children from the MCYC community in any personal social media contact.
- Any communication received from children on any personal social media sites should be reported to the designated person for safeguarding, Julie Woods (or Joel Fraser in her absence)
- If any member of staff or volunteer is aware of any inappropriate communications involving any child in any social media, these must immediately be reported as above
- MCYC staff are strongly advised to set all privacy settings to the highest possible levels on all personal social media accounts
- All email communication must be made from an official MCYC email accounts
- Staff should not use personal mobile phones to make contact with campers, parents or carers, nor should any such contact be accepted, except in circumstances given prior approval by MCYC Management.
- Staff are advised to avoid posts or comments that refer to specific, individual matters related to MCYC and members of its community on any social media accounts
- Staff are also advised to consider the reputation of MCYC in any posts or comments related to the organisation on any social media accounts
- Staff should not accept any current camper of any age or ex-campers under the age of 18 as a friend, follower, subscriber or similar on any personal social media account
- Facebook and Instagram have a minimum age of 13 years old. MCYC staff and volunteers will not support, encourage or condone children who breach these rules.
- Please note that you are personally responsible for the content you publish on social media or any other form of user-generated media. MCYC will accept no responsibility for personal posts, but will take immediate and appropriate action where the law or our guidelines are broken. Remember that the internet never forgets. This means everything you publish will be visible to the world for a very, very long time.
2. MCYC Sanctioned Use of Social Media
- There are many legitimate uses of social media within MCYC. MCYC has a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account.
- When using social media for MCYC marketing and communication purposes, the following practices must be observed:
- Only those authorised to post on MCYC’s social media accounts may do so and this will be under the clear direction of The Chair of Communications.
- The content of any MCYC‐sanctioned social media site should be solely professional and should reflect well on MCYC.
- Photographs of children must not:
- be published without the written consent of parents / carers,
- identify by name any children featured in photographs,
- or allow personally identifying information to be published on MCYC social media accounts
- Care must be taken that any links to external sites from the account are appropriate and safe
- Any inappropriate comments on or abuse of MCYC‐sanctioned social media should immediately be removed and reported The Chair of Communications
- MCYC staff and volunteers should not engage with any direct messaging of campers or parents through social media where the message is not public
- These practices must be observed in addition to MCYC Social Media Guidelines document and the MCYC Brand Guidelines document.