External social media policy

Where you can reach us, how you can contact us and acceptable conduct on social media

Our accounts

Many North Devon Council services and campaigns use social media channels to communicate with residents, businesses and visitors. Our main social media accounts are listed below:

X (Twitter) 

-@ndevoncouncil

-@BarnstapleMkt

-@NDCWardens

Facebook

-@northdevoncouncil

-@Barnstaple Pannier Market

-@Live Love Local

-@North Devon Climate Action

-@North Devon Foodfest

-@North Devon Crematorium

Instagram

-@northdevoncouncil

Threads 

-@northdevoncouncil

Nextdoor

-@northdevoncouncil 

LinkedIn 

-@North Devon Council

Our main accounts are monitored Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (except bank holidays and public holidays). If you contact us during these hours we will try to reply as soon as possible. If the delay in getting back to you is due to downtime of an external service for which the council is not responsible, we do not accept responsibility for a lack of response.

Contacting us on social media 

We will always try to help with queries received via our social media channels, but we may not be able to formally act on or respond to all of them. In these cases we will provide general information or signpost you to the appropriate online self-help service on the NDC Website. This will ensure that the correct department receives your comment or complaint and can act on it accordingly. 

If you are a member of the media or a politician who wants to get in touch please use communications@northdevon.gov.uk instead of contacting us on social media

Acceptable conduct 

Most social networks and blogs have their own official rules and guidelines, which we will always follow. Additionally, we reserve the right to remove or report any online comments that break the following guidelines: 

• No disruptive, offensive or abusive behaviour 

• No personal attacks or offensive comments 

• No unlawful or objectionable content 

• No spamming or unauthorised promotion of websites or services 

• No impersonation 

• Do not publicise your, or anyone else's, contact details or other personal information. 

In order to provide a safe and inviting place for other users to engage with our services we may mute or block users who continue to make comments that go against our guidelines. 

Any comments that breach the rules of the social media platforms we use will be reported by us to the relevant company who may take action against the user.

 Our interactions on social media 

The following guidelines apply across our main channels: 

• If you follow or subscribe to one of our social media accounts, we will not automatically do the same back 

• We do not endorse any individual or organisation merely by virtue of creating a social media connection with them (e.g. following on Twitter or liking on Facebook).