PACFA Communities and Social Media guidelines (internal and external) for users
Purpose and scope
This document is designed to provide guidance to users about participating and engaging with PACFA's Communities and public social media pages and any associated private social media groups.
PACFA has a public Facebook page to provide information about our activities to members, stakeholders, and the public. The page provides users with up-to-date news and information and the opportunity to communicate with PACFA.
PACFA also hosts smaller private groups based around Branches, Colleges, or Interest Groups, that are only accessible to members and require moderator approval to join.
User guidelines for participation
Users and members of PACFA Communities, the public Facebook page, and any private groups must abide by the following:
- Be respectful and kind. Do not post disrespectful, derogatory, inflammatory, discriminatory, defamatory, abusive, hateful or offensive comments or images about any person, organisation, or modality. Be kind to others you are interacting with, including staff and moderators.
- Maintain confidentiality. Do not discuss client information or anything that could be used to identify a client. Do not post private correspondence between yourself, clients, PACFA, and/or another PACFA member. Do not discuss any grievances or appeals, current or past.
- No bullying, hate speech, discrimination, or intimidation. Harmful comments about race, ethnicity, culture, religion, appearance, gender, sexuality, kinship, or personal identity will not be tolerated and may result in a ban from the page.
- Do not make comments that breach the PACFA Code of Ethics, Code of Conduct, or Scope of Practice. The Code of Ethics requires practitioners to conduct their collegial relationships in a spirit of mutual respect. In keeping with the PACFA Code of Ethics, members should only post information or make comments on issues that are within their scope of practice.
- Be honest and genuine. Don’t make statements that are incorrect. Always take responsibility for your comments.
- Do not promote competitions, businesses, personal social media pages, or non-related causes, campaigns, and petitions.
- Respect copyright and intellectual property. Do not post materials that are not your own without referencing or acknowledging the creator.
PACFA’s Facebook page and associated private groups are managed by a small team of staff and volunteers. Any issues you have regarding your membership or PACFA’s policies or activities should be directed to [email protected] rather than posted on Facebook to ensure it reaches the correct person to assist you with your query and to prevent damage to PACFA’s reputation on behalf of its members.
Moderation and administration of the public Facebook page
The public PACFA Facebook page is run by the PACFA office and may be accessed by any internet user, whether they have a Facebook account or not. This means stakeholders, employers, and members’ clients, among others, can see what you say on the page.
PACFA will remove any content that does not meet the user guidelines and may ban the poster from accessing the PACFA Facebook page.
PACFA is not responsible for - and does not endorse - any content posted by other Facebook users on our page, including the expression of ideas, information, statements, opinions, and advice.
PACFA may choose to close the comments section of a post if the discussion may lead to content in contradiction of the participation guidelines and there are no moderators available to remove this content within a timely manner. Moderation and administration of the public Facebook page or private Facebook groups is overseen by PACFA staff and volunteers.
Moderation and administration of PACFA Communities and private Facebook groups
Members of PACFA Communities and any private Facebook group associated with or run by PACFA must adhere to the above guidelines for participation.
Members must agree to abide by the guidelines before being accepted into the group. Additional guidelines may be added if these are within the scope of the group and decided upon by the Leadership Group with agreement from the PACFA office, or by the PACFA office itself.
Facebook groups are moderated by members of PACFA, who are typically volunteers of a PACFA Leadership Group relating to the Facebook group’s purpose. PACFA staff members may also be present within the group and may assist with any issues or moderation.
Posts which breach the user guidelines will be removed by the moderator and the individual who made the post will be contacted and provided an explanation about why their post was removed with a statement such as:
Your post on the {date} was removed from the PACFA {group name} because it is in breach of one or more of the PACFA posting guidelines below that you agreed to when joining the group.
Single or multiple inappropriate posts from an individual may result in exclusion from the specific Facebook group depending on the severity of the inappropriate posting. This decision will be made by the PACFA CEO in consultation with the group’s moderators.
When posting about contentious subjects, moderators are encouraged to remind group members of the guidelines above and can remove the capacity for members to comment on posts if any group member breaches the guidelines, or if there are no moderators available, to remove this content within a timely manner.
Queries or concerns
If you have any concerns about any material on PACFA's Communities, the Facebook page, or within any groups, please contact the administrator/moderator of the group, or PACFA staff by emailing [email protected]. All concerns or complaints will be taken seriously and addressed in line with existing PACFA policies and guidelines.