FACEBOOK PAGES BECOME MORE COMPLEX in certain business sectors. 

For entities falling under the guidance of OHIO'S SUNSHINE AND OPEN RECORDS LAWS: page administrators, appointed and elected officials, and employees must take care to establish whether specific content meets the definition of a record that must be managed, kept in accordance to records retention schedules, and produced in compliance with open records laws. This MAY include personal messages, deleted and edited posts, as well as comments and responses, on a business or personal page.

In 2013, State Auditor Dave Yost stated that a check of 20 Ohio counties and cities for compliance with Sunshine laws found weaknesses in the public-records policies and procedures in eight instances, or 40 percent. Part of the problem is the increasing complexity of the law, which is only further complicated by changes in technology.

Be sure to have well-communicated policies and procedures in place, as well as consult with your entity's appropriate legal counsel for guidance.

For more information:

Ohio Electronic Records Committee Guidelines: <http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/ohioerc/images/c/c6/OhioERC-Guideline-Social-Media.pdf>

Ohio Sunshine Laws, An Open Government Resource Manual: <http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/OhioAttorneyGeneral/files/31/316d7da7-cbb3-47ac-8dba-2bb9d5bb7ab6.pdf>

WHAT WORKS -- Here's an example of a great strategy being used by Marion County Children Services. They are blending their online presence with their real-life presence by promoting their mascot, Ted D. Bear, on Facebook. By encouraging pictures and photo tagging, their content gets pushed out further and further to the people who are tagged as well as to their friends and friends of friends (depending on privacy settings).

This was just one of the strategies we covered in a two hour training and consultation I did with their staff and The Boys & Girls Club of Marion County to help them maximize the use of their Facebook page as a tool to connect with their stakeholders.

Note: You must be sure to "allow photo tagging by others" in your BUSINESS page settings for this to work.