ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ Social Media Policy
The ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ uses the following policies to guide the use of social media sites in accordance with the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) Social Media Policy:
Linking
ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ may make available social media applications, and may publish social media content to third-party sites. These sites are not official ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ websites and therefore, the external sites¡¯ policies apply. Please refer to the ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ Linking Policy for more information.
Privacy
Only public information is permitted to be posted by ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ or its designee on ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media websites. If communication that takes place on ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media websites involves or requires private information, communication will be redirected through other appropriate channels. Postings from the public on ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media sites become public record and may be posted on the ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ website. This information may be subject to public information requests. For more information about public information requests, please refer to the ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ Public Information Requests Policy.
No personally identifiable information without an individual¡¯s permission, unless captured during a public meeting, will be posted on ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media sites by ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ personnel. ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ is not responsible for content posted by others to ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media sites. ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ users that enter personal information on ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media sites do so at their own risk; ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ is not responsible for the public display of such private information. ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ may remove postings to its social media sites that contain personally identifiable information, but neither ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ, nor its licensors or contractors, are responsible for any damages caused by delays in such removal.
Public Information and Record Retention
Social media sites may contain communications sent to or received by state employees, and such communications are therefore public records subject to State Records Retention requirements. These retention requirements apply regardless of the form of the record (digital text, photos, audio, or video, for example).
To the extent that the third-party records retention policies are inconsistent with the Texas State Record Retention Schedule, ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ will put forth reasonable efforts to archive copies of social media content in order to meet state records retention obligations.
Terms of Service
ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media sites are third party sites and have terms of service and policies that are not governed by ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ or the State of Texas. These third- party sites are not official ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ websites and the third party¡¯s website terms of service and policies apply. The terms of service for the social media sites used by tea.texas.gov can be found below:
- (formerly known as Twitter)
Content of Social Media Posts
All published ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ social media content is subject to monitoring. This content may take the form of digital text for X and Facebook, photography images for Flickr and Instagram, and videos for YouTube.
User-generated posts are subject to rejection or removal when the content of a post:
- is off-subject or out of context
- contains obscenity or material that appeals to the prurient interest
- contains personal identifying information or sensitive personal information, as defined in Tex. Code Bus & Com. Sec. 521.001 et. seq.
- contains offensive terms that target protected classes
- contains personal attacks or insulting statements directed toward an individual
- is threatening, harassing or discriminatory
- incites or promotes violence or illegal activities
- contains information that reasonably could compromise public safety
- advertises or promotes a commercial product or service, or any entity or individual
- promotes, endorses, or contains disparaging language about political campaigns, candidates, or office holders
- are of a repetitive or ¡°spamming¡± nature (the same comment posted multiple times)
In the above instances, ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ may remove content without notifying the poster.
X( formerly known as Twitter)
Accessibility: To accommodate ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ users with disabilities, (outside source) is the suggested alternative access to the @teainfo X profile.
Record Retention: ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ X content will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule.
Accessibility: To accommodate ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ users with disabilities, there are two suggested alternatives to access the ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ Facebook Fan page:
- The is a suggested accessible alternative to the original ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ Facebook page.
- ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ generally posts the same content to Twitter and Facebook. Therefore, (outside source) will serve as an accessible alternative.
Record Retention: ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ Facebook updates will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule.
YouTube
Accessibility: ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ will make an effort to link to and display videos on its YouTube channel that have closed captioning available for hearing impaired viewers.
Record Retention: The ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ YouTube videos will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule.
Content: Videos displayed on the ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ YouTube site will be related to Texas or Texas education.
Record Retention: The following ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ Instagram photos will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule:
- Photos posted to Instagram by ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ
- Photos not accepted by ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ due to noncompliance with submission guidelines
Content: By submitting a photo to the ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ via Instagram, you are giving ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ permission to use your photo on the ÁñÁ«ÊÓÆÁ homepage, website, mobile site, and social media platforms.