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Here are a number of publicly available social media policies and guidelines for corporations, nonprofits and media companies. In some cases, we’ve reproduced them on this site because of how often they get moved around or dislodged.*
If you’re in the market for a Social Media Policy, contact Socialbrite — we’re created several policies for well-known nonprofits and brands. For a boilerplate but useful social media disclosure policy, see disclosurepolicy.org.
Know of other policies we should add? Drop us a line or post a pointer in the comments below. Thanks!
SKIP DOWN TO | Nonprofits
SKIP DOWN TO | Government
SKIP DOWN TO | Corporations
SKIP DOWN TO | Hospitals & health sector
SKIP DOWN TO | News organizations
SKIP DOWN TO | Additional resources
Nonprofits, academia & community
• American Red Cross Online Communications Guidelines
• Bread for the World’s Social Media Policy
• B’nai B’rith Youth Organization
• DePaul University
• Easter Seals (reported on Beth Kanter’s blog)
• Easter Seals Online Community Guidelines
• Fellowship Church
• Harvard Law School – Terms & Policy
• Fraternal Order of Eagles (PDF)
• Powerhouse Museum Communication Using Public-Facing Museum Blogs – Policy (PDF)
• Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy
• Social Media Handbook for Local Red Cross Units
Government
• Australian Public Service Commission’s protocols for online media participation
• British Government Twitter policy guide (PDF)
• City of Hampton Information Technology Policy: Social Media Policy (PDF)
• City of Seattle Blogging Policy
• Circular 2008/8: Interim protocols for online media participation
• CivilService – Code for Online Participation (UK)
• Facebook Comments Policy
• Government Policy: Why government and nonprofit organizations should set up Social Media Profiles
• GSA Social Media Policy (PDF)
• New Zealand State Services Commission: The Guide to Online Participation
• New Zealand State Services Commission: Principles for Interaction with Social Media]
• State of Delaware Social Media Policy (PDF)
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Guideline to Acceptable Use of Internal Wikis and Blogs Within the Government of Canada
• U.K. Government: Template Twitter Strategy for Government Departments
• U.S. Air Force (Public Affairs Officer’s Guide)
• US Air Force Social Media Policy (with flow chart)
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Jacksonville District: Social Media User Guidelines (PDF)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Blogging at EPA for Greenversations
• US Navy – Web 2.0 – Utilizing New Web Tools
• Wake County, N.C., Web 2.0 Guidelines
Corporations
Tech & Web companies
• Cisco’s Internet postings policy
• HP Blogging Code of Conduct
• IBM’s social computing guidelines
• Intel’s social media guidelines
• Microsoft: Channel 9 Doctrine
• Opera Employee Blogging Policies
• Oracle Social Media Participation Policy (also download as a PDF)
• Plaxo’s Communication (Blogging) Policy
• RightNow Social Web Employee Policy
• SAP Social Media Participation Guidelines
• Sun Microsystems Policy on Public Discourse
Other brands
• FedEx Citizenship Blog’s Blog Policy
• Gartner Public Web Participation Guidelines
• GM Motors Blogging Policy
• Kodak Social Media Tips
• Walmart’s Twitter External Discussion Guidelines
• Wells Fargo Community Guidelines
• Yahoo! Blogging Policy
PR, marketing, communications firms
• Gibraltar’s Social Media Policy
• GretemanGroup Social Media Policy
• Jaffe PR: Social Media and Social Networking Policies and Procedures
• Porter Novelli (PR)
• Porter Novelli Blogging and Social Media Policy
• Razorfish Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines
Additional companies
• Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Social Media Guidelines
• eWay Direct Social Media Policy
• Feedster
• Forrester corporate blogging policy
• Headset Bros Social Media Policy
• Hill & Knowlton Blogging at H&K
• LiveWorld Social Media Content Guidelines
• Mason Social Media Guidelines (PDF)
• Netflix Guide on Freedom & Responsibility
• Opera Employee Blogging Policies
• Regler for blogging i SpareBank 1 Gruppen
• Right Now Social Web Employee Policy
• Telstra’s 3 Rs of Social Media Engagement (PDF)
• Unic Social Media Guidelines
Hospitals & health sector
• Kaiser Permanente Social Media Policy (PDF)
• Mayo Clinic Participation Guidelines
• Red Cross Crescent Social Media Guidelines (PDF)
• Sentara Social Media Policy (PDF)
• Sutter Health and Affiliates Policy for Social Networking and Other Web-based Communications (PDF)
• The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Blog Policies and Guidelines
News organizations
Best of breed:
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s social media policy
• BBC – Editorial Guidelines, personal use of Social Networking (BBC has removed these)
• NPR News’ social media policy (NPR has removed this)
Other:
• AP’s social media policy
• Los Angeles Times’ social media guidelines
• Reuters’ social media guidelines
• New York Times’ social media policy
• The Roanoke Times News Standards and Policies
• Wall Street Journal’s social media policy
• Washington Post’s social media policy
Additional resources
• About.com: Blogging and Social Media Policy Sample
• Top 10 Guidelines for Social Media Participation at (COMPANY) (PDF)
• Charlene Li’s Blogging policy examples
• Collection of Social Media Policy Examples
• DisclosurePolicy.org: Generate Your Own Disclosure Policy
• Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines
• Frederik Waka’s Beginners’ Guide to Corporate Blogging
• JD Lasica’s commentary: Newspaper social media policies: Out of touch
• Poynter, Newsrooms Develop Social Networking Policies for Journalists on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter
• Judith Lindeau: Social Media Policy for Associations: Off Stage
• Mashable: 10 Must-haves for your social media policy
• Nicky Hardy: Social media guidelines for brands
• Rhetorica: Rhetorica Blogging and Comment Policy
• Robert Scoble’s The Corporate Weblog Manifesto
• Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?
• Social Media Business Council Disclosure Policy Toolkit
• Steve Buttry’s Leading Your Staff Into the Twitterverse
• Steve Buttry’s critique of the Los Angeles Times’ policy, the Washington Post’s policy and Wall Street Journal’s policy
• WOMMA: WOMMA Ethics Code
*A final note about the republication of a handful of social media policies on this site: These are historical documents and as such will be analyzed, reviewed, compared and critiqued on a regular basis here in the years ahead. To do so, we need access to the original source material and so will post them here for archival and educational purposes.
Beth Kanter is CEO of Zoetica, a consultancy for nonprofits. See her profile, visit her blog, contact Beth or leave a comment.
