TEA Social Media Policy

The Texas Education Agency uses the following policies to guide the use of social media sites in accordance with the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) Social Media Policy:

Linking

TEA may make available social media applications, and may publish social media content to third-party sites. These sites are not official TEA websites and therefore, the external sites’ policies apply. Please refer to the TEA Linking Policy for more information. 

Privacy

Only public information is permitted to be posted by TEA or its designee on TEA social media websites. If communication that takes place on TEA social media websites involves or requires private information, communication will be redirected through other appropriate channels. Postings from the public on TEA social media sites become public record and may be posted on the TEA website. This information may be subject to public information requests. For more information about public information requests, please refer to the TEA Public Information Requests Policy.

No personally identifiable information without an individual’s permission, unless captured during a public meeting, will be posted on TEA social media sites by TEA personnel. TEA is not responsible for content posted by others to TEA social media sites. TEA users that enter personal information on TEA social media sites do so at their own risk; TEA is not responsible for the public display of such private information. TEA may remove postings to its social media sites that contain personally identifiable information, but neither TEA, nor its licensors or contractors, are responsible for any damages caused by delays in such removal. 

Public Information and Record Retention

Social media sites may contain communications sent to or received by state employees, and such communications are therefore public records subject to State Records Retention requirements. These retention requirements apply regardless of the form of the record (digital text, photos, audio, or video, for example).

To the extent that the third-party records retention policies are inconsistent with the Texas State Record Retention Schedule, TEA will put forth reasonable efforts to archive copies of social media content in order to meet state records retention obligations.

Terms of Service

TEA social media sites are third party sites and have terms of service and policies that are not governed by TEA or the State of Texas. These third- party sites are not official TEA websites and the third party’s website terms of service and policies apply. The terms of service for the social media sites used by tea.texas.gov can be found below:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Flickr
• YouTube
• Instagram

Content of Social Media Posts

All published TEA social media content is subject to monitoring. This content may take the form of digital text for Twitter and Facebook, photography images for Flickr and Instagram, and videos for YouTube. 

User-generated posts are subject to rejection or removal when the content of a post:

• is off-subject or out of context 
• contains obscenity or material that appeals to the prurient interest
• contains personal identifying information or sensitive personal information, as defined in Tex. Code Bus & Com. Sec. 521.001 et. seq.
• contains offensive terms that target protected classes
• contains personal attacks or insulting statements directed toward an individual
• is threatening, harassing or discriminatory
• incites or promotes violence or illegal activities
• contains information that reasonably could compromise public safety
• advertises or promotes a commercial product or service, or any entity or individual
• promotes or endorses political campaigns or candidates
• are of a repetitive or “spamming” nature (the same comment posted multiple times)

In the above instances, TEA may remove content without notifying the poster.

Twitter

Accessibility: To accommodate TEA users with disabilities, EasyChirp (outside source) is the suggested alternative access to the @teainfo Twitter profile. 

Record Retention: TEA Twitter content will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule. 

Facebook

Accessibility: To accommodate TEA users with disabilities, there are two suggested alternatives to access the TEA Facebook Fan page:

1. The Facebook mobile site is a suggested accessible alternative to the original TEA Facebook page. 
2. TEA generally posts the same content to Twitter and Facebook. Therefore, EasyChirp (outside source) will serve as an accessible alternative. 

Record Retention: TEA Facebook updates will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule.

Flickr

Accessibility: To accommodate TEA users with disabilities, the mobile version of Flickr is the suggested alternative to access TEA’s photo pool.

Record Retention: The following tea.texas.gov Flickr photos will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule:

1. Photos posted to Flickr by TEA
2. Photos not accepted by TEA due to noncompliance with submission guidelines 

Content: By submitting a photo to the TEA Flickr pool, you are giving TEA permission to use your photo on the TEA homepage, website, mobile site, and social media platforms. For more information about photo submission guidelines, visit the TEA Flickr pool. 

YouTube

Accessibility: TEA will make an effort to link to and display videos on its YouTube channel that have closed captioning available for hearing impaired viewers. 

Record Retention: The TEA YouTube videos will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule.

Content: Videos displayed on the TEA YouTube site will be related to Texas or Texas education. 

Instagram

Record Retention: The following TEA Instagram photos will be archived and retained for the required period of time in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule:

1. Photos posted to Instagram by TEA 
2. Photos not accepted by TEA due to noncompliance with submission guidelines 

Content: By submitting a photo to the TEA via Instagram, you are giving TEA permission to use your photo on the TEA homepage, website, mobile site, and social media platforms.