This SOP, for all personnel assigned to 101ARW/PA and Maine Air National Guard Recruiting and Retention Flight, establishes procedures and protocols for official social media channels.
1. RESPONSIBILITIES: The 101 ARW Public Affairs Office and Maine Air National Guard Recruiting and Retention Flight are responsible for the active management and moderation of all official command social media platforms. Personnel will monitor all public comments and user-generated content to ensure they adhere to the below established comment policy. Personnel are tasked with documenting and subsequently removing any comments that violate these guidelines, such as those containing profanity and hate speech. Staff will also identify legitimate inquiries from the public and, after coordination with the Public Affairs Officer/Superintendent for an approved response, will engage with the community in a timely and professional manner.
2. PROCEDURES:
2.1. Personnel will actively monitor all official social media platforms for new comments, replies, and user posts. This review shall be conducted at a minimum of two times per duty day (start of day and end of day).
2.2. Comment Evaluation: Upon discovery, all new user-generated content will be immediately evaluated against the established Comment Policy. Each comment or post will be categorized as one of the following:
a. Policy Violation: Content containing profanity, hate speech, personal attacks, misinformation, or other prohibited material.
b. Public Inquiry: A direct question requiring an official response.
c. General Engagement: Positive or neutral feedback that does not require a formal answer.
2.3. For the purposes of this procedure, “Prohibited Material" refers to any user-generated content that falls into one or more of the following categories. All publicly posted comments are subject to review, and any content that violates this policy will be documented and publicly hidden without notice.
a. Operational Security (OPSEC) Violations - Any comment that reveals sensitive information about military operations, personnel locations, movements, readiness, or other information that could endanger service members or compromise a mission.
b. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) - Comments that release the private data of any individual, including but not limited to home addresses, phone numbers, Social Security Numbers, or other personal details (an act commonly known as "doxxing").
c. Threats & Incitement to Violence - Content that contains credible threats of harm against any individual, group, or organization, or encourages illegal or violent acts.
d. Hate Speech & Discrimination - Attacks, slurs, or derogatory comments targeting individuals or groups based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), age, or disability.
e. Obscenity & Profanity - Comments containing vulgar, sexually explicit, or pornographic language or imagery.
f. Commercial Endorsements & Solicitation
g. Partisan Political Activity
2.4. Action on Policy Violations:
2.4.1. Hide the comment from public view.
2.5. Action on Public Inquiries:
2.5.1. Forward the question to the Public Affairs Officer/Superintendent for situational awareness and to determine an appropriate response.
2.5.2. Draft a proposed response based on command messaging and known information.
2.5.3. Post the response only after it has been explicitly approved by the Public Affairs Officer/Superintendent or OIC of the Recruiting and Retention Flight.
2.6. Action on General Engagement: Comments not otherwise deemed prohibited within this policy are included in the definition of general engagement.
2.7. Timeliness: Policy violations will be documented and removed within one hour of discovery during normal duty hours. For public inquiries, an official, approved response should be provided within one business day whenever feasible.
2.8 Acceptable engagement: Acceptable engagement is defined pursuant to AFI 35-101 Figure 5.1 and such AFI shall be posted on the 101st ARW web page.