EWEB's Social Media Rules of Conduct
The Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) participates in several social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, NextDoor and YouTube. These channels are limited public forums and offer opportunities for civil discussions explicitly regarding EWEB, our employees, policies, programs, and relevant partner agencies within the community that we serve. EWEB welcomes your opinion relevant to our posted content, but we require that you respect the utility's following Social Media Rules of Conduct. Posts and comments that violate these rules may be hidden or subject to deletion. Participants violating these rules may be blocked from EWEB’s social media platforms pursuant to Paragraph 7 below. EWEB will enforce these rules with a neutral viewpoint, meaning these standards shall be enforced regardless of whether the post or comment is supportive or critical of EWEB.
1. EWEB’s social media platforms serve as an educational resource to all of our customers, including children. Foul language, profanity, obscene, violent, pornographic, and/or sexual content (collectively, “Offensive Material”) is not allowed. The page administrator makes the final determination about whether language constitutes Offensive Material. Posts and/or comments that contain Offensive Material may be hidden by the page administrator.
2. Any post containing personal or account information is not allowed. Our social media team does not have access to EWEB accounts and cannot resolve any issues you may have with billing, service, etc. For assistance with account information, please call 541-685-7000. Posts and/or comments that contain personal or account information may be hidden by the page administrator.
3. Keep it respectful. Any threats made against EWEB, EWEB employees or Commissioners, or against other community members are strictly prohibited. Direct threats against individuals will be catalogued and reported to EWEB Physical Security, who may report violations to the Eugene Police. Posts and/or comments that contain threats may be hidden by the page administrator. Individuals who make violent threats will automatically be blocked and banned from all EWEB Social Media platforms.
4. EWEB welcomes lively discussion about water and electric resources and service, conservation, EWEB rates and initiatives, relevant public policies, and other related topics, especially from our customer-owners. Although posts and comments are encouraged on EWEB’s social media platforms, these sites are limited public forums that are moderated by EWEB staff. All posted content (comments, links, photos, etc.) must be relevant to EWEB and its services. Spam postings, which includes purposely posting similar information multiple times, is not allowed. To foster productive dialogues regarding EWEB news, programs, and policies, comments on EWEB-posted content must be relevant to the content of the post. Posts and/or comments that spam our accounts may be hidden by the page administrator.
5. No advertising. Self-serving posts promoting commercial products, services, events, or businesses are not allowed. Do not post any commercial solicitations (i.e., asking users to “like” your page or visit your website). Do not post advertisements, prize contests, or giveaways. Posts and/or comments that use our accounts for advertising may be hidden by the page administrator.
6. Fake accounts. Participants on EWEB’s social media platforms are not required to be active EWEB customers. We welcome participation and feedback from all of our community members and fans who may have moved away but still want to keep in touch with EWEB. If a social media account owner has been blocked, all other social media accounts owned and managed by the blocked-account holder will similarly be blocked. Problematic followers who use a pseudonym to continue accessing EWEB’s social media pages will continue to be blocked upon detection.
7. Three Strikes Policy. Please note that any post violating these rules may be hidden and/or deleted. Any community member who breaks these rules will receive a private message for each first and second offense, warning them that they will be blocked if they continue to violate these rules. On the third violation, their account will be blocked from all EWEB Social Media Platforms. In no event shall a user be blocked solely based on disagreeing with or providing a contrary opinion or point of view from EWEB. EWEB will not take retaliatory action against a customer for posting negative comments about EWEB, but all postings remain subject to enforcement of these Social Media Rules of Conduct. As a public utility, we strive to continuously serve our community, and we value constructive criticism as a means to improve our services. Action to block any social media account from EWEB’s social media platforms will not cause restriction to our customer service department, communication with the Commissioner who represents their Ward, and testimony at public Board Meetings. Customers who post threats of violence, however, may have public meeting privileges revoked, pending an investigation of their threatening behavior.
8. We are your neighbors, at your service! EWEB is a public utility. We do not operate to make a profit. Our mission is to enhance our community's vitality by delivering drinking water and electric services consistent with the values of our customer-owners. And our vision is to do so while being a local utility that inspires our customers to invest in and rely on us. Although the public’s participation on our social media platforms is encouraged, comments or post created by a member of the public on any of EWEB’s social media platforms constitutes the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, EWEB, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of EWEB. EWEB Commissioners are elected by the people of Eugene to maintain and operate the utility. EWEB staff are often also EWEB customers and work with the spirit of public service. We are determined to provide you with safe, reliable, and responsible service, and look forward to hearing your feedback through these Social Media Platforms to better serve you.
