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Introduction

This policy sets out ARB’s approach on how it will use social media to engage, communicate and build relationships with its audiences. We are using social media to help raise awareness of our work and to help people to contribute to that work through consultations, feedback and more, in a way that is both cost-effective and accessible.

Our Aim

Is to connect with members of the public, architects and anyone who is interested in finding out more about ARB. We know that in today’s digital world, people use technology in different ways. Our use of social media means that we can be accessible to you at all times, whether you are at home, at work or on the move.

Where you can find us

LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook 
• Alerts about new information and updates on our website
• News releases
• Sharing information that’s relevant to our audiences
• Invitations to join in our public consultations
• Recruitment and vacancies at ARB

YouTube 
• Webinar recordings and other types of video content

What you can expect from us

Twitter 
We will only tweet when we have something of interest to share with our followers, and we will usually tweet between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. However, like many Twitter users, we may monitor and respond at other times of the day. The type of tweets we will make will be to highlight matters of interest and to seek feedback and views, and we may retweet news, links and other information we believe is relevant to the work we do.

From time to time, we will review our followers, and we may follow Twitter accounts ourselves if they fall within the parameters of our field of work. However, being followed does not imply endorsement of any kind. Twitter may occasionally be unavailable and we do not accept responsibility for lack of service due to Twitter downtime.

Your feedback and comments will always be welcome, but we cannot promise to reply individually to the messages we receive through Twitter. ARB will read all @replies and direct messages appropriately, as well as ensuring that any emerging issues or helpful suggestions are passed to the relevant teams within ARB. We cannot engage in issues that are outside ARB’s statutory remit or respond to questions where it would be inappropriate for ARB as a public body and statutory regulator to answer. Official enquiries, or enquiries that need a response, should be addressed to ARB in the usual way. See the Contact us section of our website for details.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
We will post items and articles containing news and information on these pages, as well as links to other information that may be relevant or of interest to our audiences. As with all our work, we welcome your feedback and views. We will take these into account whenever possible, but we cannot promise to reply individually to all the messages we receive. We will, however, pass these on to the relevant teams in ARB where this is appropriate.

We will usually review, update and monitor these pages between the hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, although this may also take place at different times. We will ensure that pages are properly moderated, and will remove any abusive or inappropriate comments that may be posted. See the section “What we expect from you” below.

YouTube 
We will use YouTube to broadcast information videos or podcasts about aspects of our work, to provide viewers with information that they might need in the course of their day-to-day activities.

What we expect from you

Our presence on social media means that we can keep our audiences updated with news and information quickly and speedily. We want to provide our users with a helpful service and in turn, we expect you to have respect both for us and for other users. Most online communities have their own rules and guidelines, but we also ask you not to post or tweet:

• Private information about any individual or organisation, including architects and architects’ practices
• Abusive or derogatory comments
• Insensitive, inappropriate or upsetting comments, content or links
• Allegations, or defamatory or insulting comments about any named individual or organisation
• Rude or aggressive posts
• Spam
• References to specific investigations, ongoing hearings or litigation
• Anything which infringes or encourages infringement of the law, including the intellectual property or privacy rights of others
• Anything which infringes the intellectual property or privacy rights of others.

In line with our Equality Scheme, we will not tolerate any form of discrimination against anyone on grounds of their:
• age
• being or becoming a transsexual person
• being married or in a civil partnership
• being pregnant or having a child
• disability
• race, including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• religion, belief or lack of religion/belief
• gender
• sexual orientation

We reserve the right to reject messages or comments that include any of the above actions, and will take action against any abusive behaviour from followers of our social media pages.