Social Media Policy

Pennant Hills Football Club Inc. Social Media Policy

1. Policy Statement

This Social Media Policy (Policy) has been developed to manage our use of Social Media.

The success of our Pennant Hills Football Club depends upon maintaining a positive reputation in the general community, including the wider football community and amongst our sponsors, players and officials and spectators. Increasingly, we use Social Media to engage with these groups. While Social Media is a powerful communications tool, it can significantly damage our reputation if improperly used.

Our communications via Social Media must be managed carefully and must be consistent with our policies, our commercial needs and our brand.

2. Purpose

The purpose of this Policy is to: 

a)   Clearly establish who has access to and authority to use Pennant Hills Football Club Social Media, and the terms on which that access and use is granted. 

b)   Clearly establish standards of conduct and communication that authorised members must meet when accessing and using Pennant Hills Football Club Social Media. 

c)     To ensure that all Pennant Hills Football Club communication via Social Media with stakeholders, the media and other external sources is consistent, appropriate, accurate, timely and is authorised to be released (ie. is not confidential). 

d)     To provide guidelines for conduct when using Social Media profiles where any reference, whether direct or indirect, is made to the Pennant Hills Football Club at any time. 

e)     To prevent unauthorised creation and usage of Social Media profiles.

3.  Application

This Policy applies to:

a)     All Pennant Hills Football Club members and volunteers, including any person who is a committee member of the Pennant Hills Football Club including but not limited to on a full-time, part-time or casual basis, whether on an ongoing basis or for a specified period or task.

b)     The conduct of Pennant Hills Football Club committee members in the use of Pennant Hills Football Club Social Media during or outside the course of their membership.

4.     Relationship of Social Media Policy to other Pennant Hills Football Club Policies and Disciplinary Procedures

This Policy is in addition to and complements existing or future policies Club, Gladesville Hornsby Football Association, Football NSW, FFA and FIFA responsibilities and behaviour. Such policies include policies relating to sexual harassment, discrimination, confidentiality, theft and disciplinary action.

Social Media Policy violations may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

For information on Pennant Hills Football Club disciplinary procedures, please contact the President, Pennant Hills Football Club.

5.       Interpretation

a)     “Social Media” includes, but is not limited to, content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies including, but not limited to, blogs, bulletin boards, microblogging (Twitter), vodcasts and podcasts, discussion forums, RSS feeds, video and photo sharing websites (YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest), social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn), wikis and online collaborations (Wikipedia), instant messaging and geo-spatial tagging (Foursquare) and any future technologies allowing communication online or mobile communication between people.

b)     “Pennant Hills Football Club” means Pennant Hills Football Club Inc. 

c)     “Confidential Information” includes, but is not limited to, the financial or accounting details of the Pennant Hills Football Club, the personal or business details of clients, customers and sponsors (including any lists and contact details of the clients, including players), the business, strategic or marketing plans of the Pennant Hills Football Club, the Pennant Hills Football Club’s intellectual property, supplier lists and contact details, production and delivery methods, pricing details or strategies, and news, design effects, illusions or other creative elements of productions. 

d)     “Authorised Use” means the use of Social Media whether in existence or in the future, by a Pennant Hills Football Club committee member under the banner of the Pennant Hills Football Club, for purposes directly related to the business of the Pennant Hills Football Club or for limited personal, educational or self-development purposes, provided these uses are not unauthorised, whether the use is through technology supported or provided by the organisation or through an external vendor or site. 

e)     “Authorised User” means a person who has been approved in writing or by other acceptable means to comment as a representative of the Pennant Hills Football Club in an official capacity. 

f)       “Personal Use” means the use of Social Media, and other information and communications technology facilities and devices, whether in existence or developed in the future, by a Pennant Hills Football Club employee in a personal capacity that is outside the realms of the Pennant Hills Football Club and is not connected to their employment or for the purposes of their role. However, if the employee represents themselves as an agent and/or representative of the Pennant Hills Football Club and/or discusses matters relevant or relating to the Pennant Hills Football Club in the public sphere, then the use may be an Unauthorised Use. 

g)     “Unauthorised Use” means the use of Social Media, and other information and communications technology facilities and devices, whether in existence or developed in the future, by any person who is not an Authorised User or any unlawful, criminal, excessive personal use or inappropriate use by a Pennant Hills Football Club employee. 

h)     “Management” means any delegated committee member or member designated by the President or Vice President to have to authority to approve members to become Authorised Users of Social Media.

6.     Authorised Use of Social Media

Only Authorised Users may undertake Social Media activity on behalf of the Pennant Hills Football Club. The following procedures shall apply:

a)     Use of Social Media is subject to approval from Pennant Hills Football Club Management and Authorised Users will be designated on an as-needed basis. 

b)     Once approved, Authorised Users must act in accordance with this Policy for any Social Media activity and will be held accountable for anything published that breaches any of these policies or procedures. 

c)     As a representative of the Pennant Hills Football Club, Authorised Users posts should be consistent with the Pennant Hills Football Club’s profile and be respectful of the Pennant Hills Football Club, stakeholders and other relevant parties and to all people interacted with. 

d)     Authorised Users should adhere to the Terms of Use of the relevant Social Media platform/website as well as any applicable laws including, but not limited to: 

     i)          Privacy, confidentiality and information security: conversations or information that is deemed confidential or classified or deals with matters that are internal in nature should not be published. 

     ii)          Copyright: copyright laws and fair use of copyrighted material should be respected and the original author/source of the work should be accurately attributed wherever possible. 

     iii)          Bullying, harassment and discrimination: workplace bullying, harassment and discrimination are expressly prohibited. This includes any bullying, threatening, harassing or discriminatory comments, or comments that may be construed to be bullying, threatening, harassing or discriminatory. 

     iv)          Defamation: material that may cause injury to another person’s, organisations’, association’s or Pennant Hills Football Club’s reputation should not be published. If publishing such material is thought to be necessary, authorisation is required from the President, Pennant Hills Football Club. 

     v)          Offensive or obscene material: material that is offensive or obscene must not be posted and may infringe relevant online classification laws if it is pornographic, sexually suggestive, harassing, hateful, racist, sexist, abusive or discriminatory.

e)     Authorised Users must not disclose any Confidential Information, proprietary or trade secrets or endorsements. If in doubt about whether something is confidential or has not been released publicly,  confirmation should be sort from the President. Pennant Hills Football Club logos, trademarks and intellectual property may not be used without express authorization. Authorised Users must ensure that the information can be legally divulged before posting it.

f)      All Authorised Users are required to disclose their name and affiliation when communicating on behalf of the Pennant Hills Football Club. Use of aliases or otherwise deceptive conduct is expressly prohibited.

g)     Authorised Users should keep records of interactions in the online Social Media space as online statements can be held to the same legal standards as traditional media communications.

h)     Authorised Users are personally responsible for their words or actions and must ensure that posts are completely accurate, not misleading and do not disclose Confidential Information or are otherwise unlawful. If in doubt, Authorised Users should not post the information until it is discussed with their supervisor.

i)      Unauthorised Users must not imply they are authorised to speak as are representative of the Pennant Hills Football Club, nor give the impression that any views expressed are those of the Pennant Hills Football Club.

7.     Personal Use of Social Media

The Pennant Hills Football Club recognises that members may wish to use Social Media in their personal life and this Policy does not intend to discourage nor unduly limit personal expression or online activities. However, even if your Social Media activities take place completely outside of your role on the club committee, as your personal activities should, what you say can influence your ability to conduct your responsibilities, your co-members’ abilities to do their jobs and the Pennant Hills Football Club’s interests. This is particularly the case when you can be identified as a member of the Pennant Hills Football Club. All members should comply with this Policy to ensure that the risk of any damage is minimised.

a)     Pennant Hills Football Club members should recognise that what they write is their responsibility and that they are legally liable for anything they write or present online. Members can be disciplined by the Pennant Hills Football Club for commentary, content or images that are defamatory, pornographic, proprietary, harassing, bullying, threatening, discriminatory, libellous or that can create a hostile work environment. Members will be held accountable for anything they publish that breaches Pennant Hills Football Club policies and procedures.

b)     Pennant Hills Football Club members should be polite and respectful to all people they interact with and adhere to the Terms of Use of the relevant Social Media platform/website, as well as copyright, privacy, defamation, contempt of court, discrimination, harassment and other applicable laws. 

c)     Pennant Hills Football Club members must not disclose any Confidential Information, proprietary or trade secrets under any circumstances and Pennant Hills Football Club logos and trademarks may not be used without explicit authority. 

d)     Pennant Hills Football Club members that are not Authorised Users must not claim to be speaking on behalf of the Pennant Hills Football Club or express an official position of the Pennant Hills Football Club on any social media platform, and must not use a Pennant Hills Football Club email address or Pennant Hills Football Club logos or insignia. In these circumstances, it is advisable to use a standard disclaimer such as “the postings on this site are my own opinions and views and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of [X].” 

8.     Breach of Responsibilities

Any Pennant Hills Football Club member found to be in breach of this Policy may be subject to appropriate disciplinary action. In the event that a Pennant Hills Football Club member breaches this Policy, the Pennant Hills Football Club may:

•      suspend or revoke the member’s status as an Authorised User; take disciplinary action;

•      terminate the member’s role;

•      take legal action and/or prosecution with regard to the breach.

9.     Contact

If members have questions about this Policy, they should contact the Club direct.