My civil servant Twitter rules

These 5 rules apply to tweeting about my employer’s organisational structure, procedures, communications and decisions.

X = news organisations, bad hackers, disgruntled followers, etc.

Y = the United Kingdom, the government digital service or myself

Z = colleagues, other departments or suppliers

1. Don’t tweet when your judgment is impaired
2. What could X do against Y with my tweet?
3. Could my tweet impact relations with Z?
4. If not sure, don’t tweet, ask boss
5. Boss not available?  Don’t tweet.

I hope this post helps fellow civil and public servants.  For further reading, check out social media guidance for civil servants and the civil service code.

I also strongly recommend this bundle of links from @pubstrat, whose advice started me thinking about this checklist.