Engaging with people across Fylde is a priority for us and is at the core of our mission to keep you informed, updated and involved.
We use social and digital media to communicate with you, have open conversations, ask for your help and seek your opinions. To do this we use a number of channels, the main ones being Facebook and Twitter.
We regularly post and add content to these sites including news, updates and information regarding council business including meetings, consultations and local information. We do this to raise awareness of issues that could affect you and to keep you informed of news and activities from the Council. We also have dedicated tourism accounts to keep you informed of what’s on in Fylde and suggestions of activities you can do whilst visiting.
We now have several thousand people following our social media accounts plus many people signed up to our email database.
What we ask from you when you are using our channels
We encourage you to use our channels to contact us, ask questions and give us your opinions on what we do. When you do, we’d ask you to stick to the following requirements so that our channels provide as good an experience as possible for all our communities:
- Please don’t use social and digital media channels to report emergencies to us such as housing, benefits advice and missed bins. Visit our website www.fylde.gov.uk where you can find useful information and contact details relevant to your query. You can also sign up to ‘My Fylde’, where you can make payments, report missed bins online and keep a track of your query and what stage it is up to.
- Do not post messages or content that could be deemed to be abusive, defamatory, hateful, racially offensive, sexually offensive, obscene, inflammatory or unlawful.
- We want everyone to feel comfortable using our sites to communicate with us so please do not swear in your posts or post anything distasteful.
- Do not use our sites for posting spam or adverts for products or services you or your business offers.
- Do not post your personal details, such as your address or phone number, when posting publicly on our sites. If you have contacted us and a staff member needs to contact you in return offline, they will privately message you, if possible, asking for your contact details. Only provide these if you are comfortable doing so.
- Do not post any material that you do not own the copyright to.
- Do not pretend to be someone else.
- We reserve the right to remove posts that breach these guidelines without explanation. If any user consistently fails to follow these requirements then we reserve the right to block them from any or all of our channels. We want to reassure you however that we see this very much as a last resort and we will do our best to warn people first so they have an opportunity to moderate their behaviour.
What you can expect from us
How often will I see your updates?
If you follow us on Twitter or ‘Like’ us on Facebook, you can expect regular updates, more frequently on weekdays, but also at weekends from our Visit Fylde sites.
If there is a major incident that affects a lot of people in Lancashire, or an emergency situation where getting accurate information and instructions to you quickly is essential, we will use the Fylde Council Facebook page and the @fyldecouncil Twitter account as the main platforms for distributing that information. Much of the information will contain links back to this website for more detailed information/explanations.
We also use an email database where you can sign up to receive our regular updates of the most recent news and activities of the council.
Will you reply to me?
If you send a tweet to us or post on our Facebook page, you can expect us to reply if you need an answer. Whilst we do our best, please bear in mind though that we can’t always reply to everyone who posts and it may not always be possible to reply immediately. There are often topics that we need to explore and investigate in further detail with other officers in the Council, so please bear with us whilst we get the correct information for you.
Do you remove posts?
Generally, we will not remove posts from members of the public that are made on our social and digital media channels, as we really want to hear your opinions on the issues that matter to you and have a conversation with you, while maintaining a family friendly format. However, we will consider removing posts or blocking users or accounts that breach the guidelines outlined above, without any explanation.
