Social Media Policy

How the Model Town will use Social Media

Social Media will be used for two purposes:

to promote our activities and provide essential information to visitors and potential visitors. Facebook, Instagram, X and Google platforms will be used for this purpose

Comments that are fair, traceable and reasonable should be responded to regularly, with the managers checking this is done on a weekly basis. Where comments from the public are favourable to the reputation of WMT they should be liked and shared, where appropriate
to communicate with volunteers, staff and trustees, using Whatsapp.

This platform will be used as a fast means of communicating essential information with the group, for example, on agreeing work to be done and when. Contributors should be aware of their responsibility to support colleagues and co-volunteers. Where a contribution is injurious to WMT, to the group as a whole or to individuals, it must be taken down immediately and the contributor made aware of the possible impact of their post. Appropriate action should be taken by the managers and/or trustees.

Who oversees and controls Social Media on the behalf of WMT

The trustees have ultimate responsibility for managing access to social media accounts and for keeping them secure. They will be directly involved where additional approval is needed, e.g., where a high profile announcement is required or where a social media crisis needs to be dealt with.

Day-to-day content, reviewing and moderating will be managed by the Managers and the PR consultant. Content that is irrelevant, offensive, inappropriate or inaccurate may be deleted by the Managers or trustees.

Required conduct for those managing the account

Those responding to posts and other communications that arise from social media will at all times remain courteous and will seek to use positive language where possible, being especially aware of the impact such responses can make on vulnerable people, young people and children.

Responders must be aware of the laws regarding libel, and of their responsibility to maintain the reputation of WMT.

Where the responder needs support in responding, they should refer the matter to the Trustees, who have the final responsibility of maintaining that the policy is followed.

Responding to incidents

On day-to-day issues, where content may be irrelevant or inappropriate, or mildly offensive, the manager, trustees or PR consultant may amend, delete or respond to content.

Where content may be injurious to the charity, other contributors, members of staff, trustees or volunteers, the Trustees must be informed. According to the seriousness of the incident, the Board of Trustees may decide to:

block content from contributors
investigate the circumstances that led to the injurious contribution
respond to negative contributions with factual and fair comment
provide emotional support to members of staff or volunteers affected by the contribution

Where incidents are deemed to be very serious and injurious to the reputation of the Charity, its trustees, staff and/or volunteers, the incident will be reported to the Charity Commission. Legal advice may be sought. The platforms involved will be shut down until the matter is resolved.