BHA Social Media Policy
Boston Housing Authority Social Media Policy
To highlight our commitment to transparency in government, the Boston Housing Authority (“BHA”) has launched several new web based tools for outreach, education and information. These tools are not intended to replace the channels currently in place for press and constituent communication. Press inquiries should be directed to Lydia Agro, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, at 617-988-4109 (direct line) or 617-4119/4124, and questions or complaints regarding BHA housing or services should be directed to (617) 988-4130. Rather, these tools are meant to augment our ability to educate, empower and inform residents of BHA housing and residents of the City of Boston.
Please note that the Records Retention Law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires the BHA to preserve records created or received by a housing authority employee. Pursuant to this retention requirement comments posted or messages received via an official BHA web page on a third-party website (such as an official housing authority profile on a social network) may be treated as public records and may be permanently archived. Information that you submit voluntarily through social media sites associated with the housing authority where such information is publicly available, including your name, city or town, and the substance of anything that you post may be disseminated further by being posted online at this website or be publicly discussed by a member of the administration.
The policies below pertain only to the BHA content. Please be sure to review the privacy policies and terms of use for any social media accounts you access through a link from the BHA website as they may differ based on the entity hosting the content.
The information below pertains only to social media accessible through the main BHA website and related portals:
YouTube™
To both increase transparency and save money on video hosting and streaming, BHA publishes all of our video content, including press releases to our YouTube channel and embeds the videos back on our site.
The official BHA YouTube channel is not yet live. The BHA is responsible solely for the content uploaded to the BHA’s channel, and not for any related videos or linked videos linked from other users, nor for any advertising or other content contained on the YouTube website.
The Boston Housing Authority will not respond via YouTube to press inquiries, resident questions or complaints, or other constituent matters. For instructions on the appropriate methods for contacting the Boston Housing Authority, please visit our contact page.
Also note that this video share is hosted by YouTube and is governed by YouTube’s separate website policies, including its Privacy Policy and its Terms of Service. These policies apply to your use of YouTube™. For questions, please email Lydia Agro.
Flickr™
To both increase transparency and save money on photo hosting and streaming, BHA publishes all of our photo content, including press releases to our Flickr site.
The BHA is responsible solely for the content uploaded to the official BHA Flickr site, and not for any related videos or linked photos linked from other users, nor for any advertising or other content contained on the Flickr website.
If you use any of our photos for another work, such as a story, blog post, printing, etc., we require that you provide credit by stating at or near the photo, “Photo Courtesy of (name of photographer where available)/BHA Communications Department.”
The Boston Housing Authority will not respond via Flickr™ to press inquiries, resident questions or complaints, or other constituent matters. For instructions on the appropriate methods for contacting the Boston Housing Authority, please visit our contact page.
Also note that this photo share is hosted by Flickr™ and is governed by Flickr’s separate website policies, including its Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines. These policies apply to your use of Flickr™. For questions, please email Lydia Agro.
Twitter™
Twitter™ is a free social networking site that allows users to send and read other user’s short updates (up to 140 characters in length). The Boston Housing Authority Twitter page is not yet live. While people use Twitter in many different ways for both personal and professional reasons, as a matter of policy:
- The Boston Housing Authority use of Twitter™ is intended as a means to provide announcements and updates on current events or notices to any other users who elect to watch or follows our Twitter feed.
- The account is maintained and monitored by the Boston Housing Authority Communication Department and the MIS Department.
- We do not follow people back who follow us and we generally do not comment on user posts to the Twitter site.
- Twitter is one of the many means the Boston Housing Authority is using to connect tenants and residents of the City of Boston to their local housing authority. We will review and update Twitter as much as possible as we monitor and maintain other channels of feedback, outreach and engagement including feedback from public meetings, email, letters, phone calls, and in person visits.
- Unless you protect your updates, messages you post on Twitter™ that are received by the Boston Housing Authority may be public records and may also be publicly available.
- In our use of Twitter™, we may occasionally search for ‘tweets’ that talk about issues related to public housing but do not reference our account, [URL], and let those users know about our account. We will periodically perform these searches to enable us to more effectively listen to and engage with tenant and residents.
- The Boston Housing Authority will not respond via Twitter™ to press inquiries, resident questions or complaints, or other constituent matters. For instructions on the appropriate methods for contacting the Boston Housing Authority, please visit our contact page.
Also note that this micro-blog is hosted by Twitter™ and is governed by Twitter’s separate website policies, including its Privacy Policy and its Terms of Service. These policies apply to your use of Twitter™. For questions, please email Lydia Agro.
FaceBook™
To view the Boston Housing Authority FaceBook webpage, click here. FaceBook is a free social networking site that allows users to post comments and photographs and send and read other user’s short updates. While people use FaceBook in many different ways for both personal and professional reasons, as a matter of policy:
- The Boston Housing Authority use of FaceBook is intended as a means to provide announcements and updates on current events or notices to any other users who elect to watch or follow our FaceBook page.
- The account is maintained and monitored by the Boston Housing Authority Communication Department and the MIS Department.
- We do not follow people back who follow us but we may respond to comments or user posts to the FaceBook site.
- FaceBook is one of the many means the Boston Housing Authority is using to connect tenants and residents of the City of Boston to their local housing authority. We will review and update FaceBook as much as possible as we monitor and maintain other channels of feedback, outreach and engagement including feedback from public meetings, email, letters, phone calls and in person visits.
- Unless you protect your updates, comments and messages you post on FaceBook that are received by the Boston Housing Authority may be public records and may also be publicly available.
- In our use of FaceBook, we may occasionally search for messages, comments and posts that talk about subjects related to public housing but do not reference the BHA profile, and let those users know about our account. We will periodically perform these searches to enable us to more effectively listen to and engage with tenant and residents.
- The Boston Housing Authority will not respond via FaceBook to press inquiries, resident questions or complaints, or other constituent matters. For instructions on the appropriate methods for contacting the Boston Housing Authority, please visit our contact page.
Also note that the BHA Facebook pages are hosted by FaceBook and governed by FaceBook’s separate website policies, including its Policy and Terms of Service. These policies apply to your use of FaceBook. For questions, please email Lydia Agro.