Councillors in Cornwall, UK, are in trouble after claims a number of them used Twitter during a meeting to mock other members – the same behaviour that takes place in the backchannel of every social media conference.
They could face being reported to the authority’s standards committee and if they’re judged to have broken the code of conduct for inappropriate comments, could face suspension.
The tweets apparently included:
“naughty boy!”
“high level of accidental sexual innuendo in the council today”
“she said phones must be switched off. (I love that we’re completely ignoring that instruction)”
“chairman indirectly instructs us not to tweet from the meeting. Whoops!”
Cornwall Council has said that it is currently developing a social media policy which recognises the potential for social networking tools to communicate and engage with the public, but would also highlight the importance of regulating usage to avoid anything which could adversely affect its reputation.
I think it’s quite surprising there are still Government organisations which aren’t operating with even a basic social media policy in place – but at the same time, we can only hope politicians and councillors remain encouraged to show their human side of social networks rather than being regulated into the same impersonal figures which many people feel disenfranchised from.
The issue is not really a social media policy. It is understanding the nature and legality of council meetings. The Councillors are there to attend to the papers, debate with each other and make decisions. At the moment that they are tweeting, they are mentally absent. Mental absence can happen for many reasons but when they tweet, there is a public record of them being absent from the meeting. It is the same as standing up, excusing oneself and leaving the room. The secretary will record there absence.
Additionally, when they are in Committee, as opposed to Council, deliberations as opposed to decisions are confidential. If they tweet from a committee, they would be subject to sanction.