About our social media channels
Toi Te Ora Public Health (Toi Te Ora) uses social media to assist with the distribution of public health updates and information.
Toi Te Ora currently operates the following social media channels:
Social media content
The Toi Te Ora social media channels are managed by the communications team and our medical officers of health.
If you follow Toi Te Ora’s social media channels you can usually expect around 1-3 posts per week covering topics including but not limited to:
- Health warnings and alerts from the medical officer of health
- Health advice and education relating to current and new warnings
- Reminders of current health warnings
- A variety of public health topics
- Photos and videos
- Information about our service and vacancies
- Media releases
- Health related events
- Retweets of other relevant public health information
Toi Te Ora also utilises other information channels and does not solely release information via social media. Other channels include:
Availability
Toi Te Ora updates and monitors its social media channels during office hours, Monday to Friday 8.30am – 5pm. Social media channels may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service due to the social media channels downtime.
Following
Toi Te Ora does not automatically follow or like organisations or individuals who follow it.
Toi Te Ora may follow or like relevant organisations including government agencies, organisations in the New Zealand health sector and other parties where there is a clear link in communicating and receiving information that is relevant to public health communications.
Toi Te Ora will generally not follow individuals unless they are known in a professional capacity and satisfy the business rule above. Being followed by Toi Te Ora does not imply endorsement of any kind.
Unfollowing
As part of channel maintenance and monitoring, Toi Te Ora regularly reviews accounts it is following. This may result in unfollowing accounts.
Comments
We are committed to creating an environment in which users can exchange information and ideas in a respectful, transparent and constructive way.
Comments and other user-generated responses are welcome and encouraged on our social media channels. User-generated content appearing on our social media channels is not edited in any way; however, this is a moderated forum. With this in mind, we expect that users will not post content that falls into the following categories and reserve the right to remove postings that are:
- off-topic and not appropriate for discussion in this forum;
- in violation of another’s privacy;
- abusive, defamatory, threatening, harassing, discriminatory, profanity or otherwise offensive;
- misleading, deceptive or inaccurate;
- illegal or advocate illegal activity;
- spam or content posted repeatedly;
- of a political nature or promotions for commercial products or services;
- in violation of another’s intellectual property or infringe upon copyrights or trademarks;
- or any other post we deem inappropriate.
Our social media channels are updated and monitored during office hours in the working week. If there is content on the channel that fits the above criteria and requires removing, please email the communications team.
The views, opinions, and information expressed in user-generated comments remain with the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Toi Te Ora Public Health.
Privacy
Toi Te Ora does not capture or record the contact details of parties following its social media channels. Any information identified or deemed confidential or private is treated in accordance with the Toi Te Ora’s Privacy Policy and the relevant social media channel’s privacy policy.
Posts, comments, direct messages
Toi Te Ora welcomes feedback from its followers. The communications advisor reads all posts, comments and direct messages and ensures that any feedback received is discussed or forwarded to the relevant people in Toi Te Ora. The usual ways of contacting Toi Te Ora for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact Us section of the Toi Te Ora website.
Hashtags (#)
It is a convention among social media users to distinguish content using semantic tags (keywords), preceded by a # sign. This enables users to search and filter information based on keywords and share information more meaningfully. Hashtags also allow users to quickly identify ‘trending’ topics.
Toi Te Ora will use hashtags when providing communications about a specific health warning, alert, and public health topics.
External Links
The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by Toi Te Ora of the linked websites, or the information, products or services contained therein.
The inclusion of external links and references in user-generated content does not imply any endorsement by Toi Te Ora. Additionally, communications made through our social media forums in no way constitute a legal or official notice or comment to Toi Te Ora or any employee or official of the Toi Te Ora for any purpose.
Acknowledgment
Toi Te Ora acknowledges that our Social Media Policy is mostly based on the Twitter Policy of the Department of Health, Victoria.
Updated 23 Feb, 2024