City of Springfield Social Media Terms of Use

The City of Springfield, Oregon uses social media as an additional method to provide the community with City of Springfield-related information and to engage in discussion on City activities and efforts. The City’s primary objective in using social media is to increase awareness, interest, and participation among Springfield residents in their City government. To do this, the City will:

• Provide timely posts on initiatives, events, meetings and other community involvement opportunities that may be of interest
• Allow for limited two-way communication in which employees may direct inquiries to existing resources and offer additional content relevant to the original posting and topic

Limited Public Forum

The City’s social media sites constitute a limited public forum. All comments must comply with the terms of use of the third party social media service and the City’s Social Media Administrative Regulation.

Content Monitoring

Comments, discussions, and other communications on the City of Springfield’s social media sites are monitored by the City Manager’s Office (CMO), or approved department employee, during regular business hours. We strive to reply to comments and questions within 24 hours. Our social sites allow for commenting, but not direct posting to City social sites. All posts, including all comments, on social media sites are public records under Oregon’s Public Records law.

Comment Policy

The City does not discriminate against public speech based on content or viewpoint but reserves the right to determine which comments are unacceptable for its social media pages.

1. Comments should relate to City matters and to the topics being discussed in the original post and not contain spam, advertising or solicitations, advocate illegal activity or violence, products or political organization, infringe on copyrights, trademarks or intellectual property rights of others.
2. Comments should be family friendly and not contain abusive or vulgar language, sexual explicit subject matter, hate speech, derogatory terms of offensive content.
3. Comments should not contain defamatory remarks about a person’s age, education, ethnicity, race, family status, gender, national origin, class, physical ability or qualities, religion, sexual orientation, thought processes or personality.
4. A posted comment is the opinion of the poster only and does not imply endorsement or agreement by the City of Springfield, its elected officials or employees.
5. Comments should not endorse candidates or political stance on current ballot measures.
6. Comments are not considered formal public comment in relation to land use or other matter that is under formal City review but they may be shared with City Council and employees for general consideration.
7. The City reserves the right to determine which comments are unacceptable for its page and fans that repeatedly violate the City’s social media comment policy may be prohibited.
8. The City also reserves the right, but does not assume the obligation, to hide posted comments that are inconsistent with policy.
9. Submission of a comment constitutes acceptance of this policy, which may be revised at any time.
10. This site is monitored by City staff and therefore not monitored on a 24-hour basis. Comments, posts, and questions will be responded to in a timely fashion.

City of Springfield Responsibility

The City of Springfield takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for comments made by third parties on City social media sites. Those who “like” the City’s social media or otherwise connect and share information from City social media sites do not represent the views or opinions of the City of Springfield, Oregon. The City’s social media sites do not allow for posting by external parties. The comments expressed on the City’s social media sites do not reflect the opinions or position of the City of Springfield, Oregon or its employees. If you have any questions concerning how City social media sites are moderated, please contact the City Manager’s Office at 541.726.3700 or email cmomail@springfield-or.gov.