Internet & Social Media Policy

Our Rules

The Parish of St Saviour use social media and would love for you to ‘follow’ us. We use it to provide news, information on events, jobs, updates on Parish services and much more.

Online communities generally have their own “rules” which we follow and therefore we reserve the right to remove any contributions that break the rules of that community, or those which are not in line with our general guidelines which are:

• Be respectful, fastidious and materially relevant
• Do not post messages that are unlawful, libellous, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or racially offensive
• Do not swear
• Do not post content copied from elsewhere, for which you do not own the copyright
• Do not post the same message, or very similar messages, more than once (also called ‘spamming’)
• Do not publicise your own or anyone else’s personal information, such as contact details
• Do not advertise products or services
• Do not pretend to be someone else

The Parish of St Saviour reserve the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed in violation of this social media policy or any applicable law.

Monitoring accounts, responding, and replying

Social media and technology in general are becoming an increasingly integral part of Parish communications. We recognise the opportunities provided by social media, but also bear in mind that many parishioners wish to continue using the more traditional methods of communication. Our standards are the same, regardless of whether the communication is via social media, website, telephone, letter, email or face-to-face.

We monitor our Parish social media accounts between Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm (except Bank Holidays and public holidays). If you contact us via these channels during these times we will endeavour to reply as soon as possible; there could be delays on some requests whilst we investigate, but we will try to keep you updated.

If your query is serious, urgent, or involves personal details, please let us know by contacting the Parish Hall on 01534 735864, visiting in person or emailing us at [email protected].

Deleting, liking, following, sharing and re-tweeting

Generally, we will not remove posts that are made on our social media; however, we will consider removing posts or blocking users or accounts that breach the guidelines outlined above, without any explanation. After 12 months the owner of the account can appeal the decision to block.

Please don’t be offended if we don’t ‘Like’ or ‘Follow’ you on social media. This doesn’t mean that we are not interested in what you have to say, it’s just that the numbers can get too high for us to manage.

We sometimes ‘Follow’ people who provide information that is relevant to our work as a Parish, or those whose information we can pass on for the benefit of our parishioners and others.

Occasionally, we’ll try and lend our support to local, national or international campaigns. There will also be times we’ll need to Like or Follow an account in order to take part in conversations.

If we Like or Follow someone and re-tweet their information, it doesn’t mean that we endorse them. We try and re-tweet information that we think will be of interest to our followers; however, please don’t be offended if we don’t re-tweet something you want us to.

Defamation, Misreporting and Misrepresentation

Defamation, misreporting, and misrepresentation have no place in any of social media a website accounts and must be avoided at all times. This includes making false statements, spreading false information, or intentionally distorting the truth in any manner that causes harm or damage to another individual’s reputation. It is important for all users to maintain the highest standards of accuracy and integrity in their communications and to respect the rights of others.

In law this means a statement that lowers the reputation of a person or organisation in the eyes of a reasonable person. We will therefore take down any statement that could be deemed to be defamatory.

We strive to maintain the accuracy and credibility of the information shared and will not tolerate any behaviour that detracts from this.

Election period

As a politically neutral entity, the administration of the Parish of St Saviour is dedicated to providing the best possible services for all of its constituents, including both parishioners and visitors. To ensure that our social media pages are in line with this commitment, we kindly request that all users refrain from posting any political messages or content. This is especially important during election periods, where the perception of content can be sensitive.

The Parish remains committed to keeping the public informed through its social media pages, and will continue to publish important service announcements. However, it reserves the right to remove any comments that may potentially compromise its political neutrality obligations.

General Information

Contacting us

If you have a concern about something posted on a page that the Parish is responsible for, or just wish to contact us, you can use social media channels. You are also very welcome to raise any matter in person at the Parish Hall, by phone on (01534) 735864, or by email at [email protected].

Please note:

If you have an urgent concern, you should not use social media platforms to raise this – as it is not monitored continuously, especially outside of normal working hours.

Unless stated otherwise, the views/comments given on any of our social media sites may not necessarily reflect the views of the Parish.

The Parish of St Saviour is committed to providing the best possible services for parishioners and those visiting our Parish. Your feedback is important to us, please use the contact details provided above.

The Parish of St Saviour produces and holds a wide range of information. We try to publish as much of this information as possible. Please take a look at the information already published before making an information request.

Any details you provide to register with the Parish for all of our social media accounts and pages such as our Facebook page, Twitter or our webpage will only be used for that purpose. We do not cross reference these details with any other information held by the Parish.