Commenting on social media posts is no longer a venue for St. Albert residents to talk to their municipality.
The City of St. Albert’s social media posts to Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and other sites no longer accept comments, effective Jan. 29. The change doesn’t affect posts made before that date.
The change was announced the same day the city posted a statement signed by Mayor Cathy Heron and MP Michael Cooper condemning a Nazi display in the city days earlier.
The new policy cheesed off at least one resident, Richard Ridgway, who called into council's meeting Tuesday (Feb. 4) with a presentation and said among other things that he has been blocked by city social accounts.
Beyond the communication breakdown, he said this is a problem because the city uses X as a tool to distribute alerts. He said since Jan. 29, he has seen nine X posts by the city with information that isn’t also available on the St. Albert website.
City staff agreed this should be addressed. CAO Bill Fletcher noted since comments are now turned off, there isn’t really a reason to maintain bans on account holders who may have been blocked for posting something offensive.
But they noted all the other existing channels of communication with the city, including phone lines and an email included in the post notifying followers of the policy change.
“To the notifications, that’s a fair and valid concern, conceptually, should be able to unblock people since they can’t comment now anyway,” Fletcher said. In terms of disabling comments, “we are not leading the charge on this by any stretch of the imagination.”
Ridgway argues St. Albert should have a more explicit social media policy, as does Edmonton.
“I don’t really think the arbiters of public purse can just sort of decide for anything they see fit to go and start blocking people.”
Heron said a review of the city’s social media policy is upcoming, unrelated to the most recent change or any individual being banned.
“We want to have some of those consistent guidelines that will honestly protect our staff so they can understand when they can block someone, when they can unblock someone, when they can remove a comment, so they’re not doing it arbitrarily,” she said.
“When there is foul language on our Facebook page or inappropriate (content) or lies or misinformation is being presented, I would like that removed. That’s where we’re headed into the future.
“Social media 10 years ago, was a wonderful tool for the city and as elected officials to engage with the public. But sometimes it turns quite nasty. I have my own personal Facebook page that I run that I was banning and blocking people from just this weekend for inappropriateness. It’s hard for everyone involved. The legal department is drafting up a new list of standards.”
