Social media outlets are another method to distribute information to and engage in discussion with a broad audience.  The City of Salem’s primary goal in using social media is to raise awareness and generate interest in a topic or issue facing our community with the purpose of engaging more in decision making and enhancing transparency of those decisions. To do this, the City will:

• Announce topics which may be of interest (upcoming meetings, agenda topics, events, new website postings, survey links, interesting facts)
• Allow for limited two-way communications in which staff may direct inquiries to existing resources and offer additional content relevant to the original posting and topic

Limited Public Forum

The City’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Tiktok and other 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 of Salem’s Social Media Terms of Use.

Content Monitoring

Communications, discussions and dialogue on the City of Salem’s social media sites are monitored by the City Manager’s Office Monday through Friday. We strive to reply to comments and questions within 24 hours and may rely on other City departments or external partners to generate a response. Our social media sites allow for comment but not posting or linking by others to externally generated content. Both the posts of employees and all comments on social media sites are public records under Oregon’s Public Records laws. The City will retain a record of the comments, even after the comment is removed from social media site.

With regard to land use matters, comments provided on the City’s social media sites are not considered formal public comment in relation to a land use or other matter that is under formal review by the City, but they may be shared with City Council and staff for general consideration. To ensure your comment is included in the official record, your comment should be submitted to the applicable City department, or for matters before the City Council, to the City Recorder at cityrecorder@cityofsalem.net by 5:00 p.m. on the date of the public hearing.

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 page. The City of Salem reserves the right, but does not assume the obligation, to remove posted comments that are inconsistent with the Comment Policy:

• Comments should relate to the topic being discussed in the original post and not contain spam, advertising or solicitations for non-City sponsored events; advocate illegal activity or violence; promote products or political organizations; endorse a position or particular stance on current political campaigns, candidates or ballot measures; or infringe on copyrights, trademarks or intellectual property rights of others.
• Comments should not contain abusive or vulgar language, sexually explicit subject matter, hate speech, derogatory terms or offensive content. Comments should not contain threatening or defamatory remarks about a person’s race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, domestic partnership or familial status. (See Salem Revised Code Chapter 97.)
• Comments should not contain information that may compromise the safety or security of the public, invade privacy, or pertain to an on-going investigation. This site may not always have the most up-to-date information on breaking news. Information that may compromise the safety, security or proceedings of public systems or any criminal or civil investigations will not be provided via our social media sites.
• By commenting, you agree not to misrepresent your identity or affiliation.
• Submission of a comment constitutes acceptance of the Comment Policy, which may be revised at any time. People who violate the City’s Comment Policy or repeatedly post inappropriate comments may have their permission to post comments restricted.
• We can’t guarantee the security of information you share on social media sites. By commenting, you waive any rights you may have to material, images or comments you post on City of Salem social media sites.  You grant the City of Salem perpetual, non-exclusive, license to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify and adapt in any form or media now known or hereinafter developed, any submission posted by you on this site. You waive any rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you. By submitting content you are consenting to its display on the site and for related online and offline promotional uses.

City of Salem Responsibility

Those who “like” the City’s social media site or otherwise connect and share information from this social media site do not represent the views or opinions of the City of Salem. 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 Salem, its officers or employees. The City of Salem takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for comments made by third parties on the City’s social media sites. If you have any questions concerning the operation of moderated on-line discussions on the City’s social media sites, please contact the City Manager’s Office at manager@cityofsalem.net.