The Ultimate Guide To What Politicians Can And Cannot Tweet

OhMyGov. Social Media and the Hatch Act Inc. LRE FRE Less Restricted Further Restricted Employees Employees covers most federal executive branch Is it okay to... includes some intelligence, law employees enforcement and other employees at Home at Work at Home at Work BLOGS Write a blog that supports or opposes a political candidate/group? Yes No Yes No Post or link to information created by a political candidate/group? No No No No Identify my official title or federal employee status to bolster my political commentary on the blog? No No No No Ask my blog readers to make a political contribution? Not a chance No way, Jose Link my blog to the homepage of a political site? Yes No No No Link my blog to the "contribution page" of a political site? No No No No Homepages of many political candidates & groups now have "contribution" areas, so this may become a gray area f FACEBOOK List my official title on my Facebook profile? Yes Yes Yes Yes Fill out the "Political Views" field on my profile? Yes Yes Yes Yes Advocate for or against a political candidate/group through my Facebook status updates? Yes w/ limits No Yes w/ limits No Solicit political contributions via Facebook? (Remember, this applies to fundraising event invites) Don't even think about it That's a negative Post links from Facebook to the homepage of a political candidate/group? Yes No No No Post links to the "contribution page" of a political site? No No No No Advocate for or against a political candidate/group through personally-directed Facebook actions (such as commenting on a subordinate's page or post, or sending a subordinate a message)? No No No No Yes Yes Let my "friends" post solicitations for political contributions on my Facebook page? you are only responsible for the content of your own posts you are only responsible for the content of your own posts Become a "Friend" or "Like" a political candidate/group on Facebook? Yes Yes w/ limits Yes w/ strict limits Suggest that friends "Like" a political candidate/group on Facebook? Yes No No No Accept an invitation on Facebook to a partisan political event? Yes w/ limits No No No "Like" the official White House Facebook page (facebook.com/WhiteHouse)? Yes Yes Yes Yes "Like" the Barack Obama candidate page (facebook.com/barackobama)? Only if my list of friends & likes is private, so basically No Yes Yes TWITTER List my official title on my Twitter profile? Yes Yes Yes Yes "Follow" a political candidate/group? Yes Yes Yes w/ strict limits Post links from Twitter to the hompage of a political candidate/group? Yes No No No Retweet or reply to messages from political groups? Yes w/ limits No No No Solicit political contributions via Twitter? Not on your life Nevah! Advocate for or against a political candidate/group through @replies or Direct Messages to subordinates? No No No No OTHER Use an alias to create a Facebook or Twitter account to Yes, but alias accounts are Yes, but alias accounts are express political views? subject to all same rules above! subject to all same rules above! Create a social media page in my official capacity to advocate for or against a political candidate/group? No No No No The guidelines above apply to activities on other social media sites, such as YouTube, LinkedIn, SlideShare, and MySpace (but if you're still on MySpace, you have bigger issues) Source: http://www.osc.gov/hatchact.htm Other laws and agency rules about social media use may apply. © OhMyGov Inc. Media Intelligence for Government TM http://consulting.ohmygov.com