Pittsylvania County is always trying to find new ways to communicate with and inform area residents. While traditional channels like newspapers and local TV stations still play an important role in getting information out, Pittsylvania County Government and many of our departments utilize social media to engage with our residents.

Different social media are popular and relevant for different groups, which is why we have accounts on so many channels. Pittsylvania County will continue to join new social media platforms, where possible and needed, to reach as many of our residents as possible.

Policy for Social Media Comments

For all of Pittsylvania County's social media accounts, we want to provide information that is interesting and relevant to our residents, businesses, and visitors. We also encourage discussion, questions, and comments in these forums.

While we encourage discussion and commenting, Pittsylvania County reserves the right to delete any comments or other public submissions that contain any of the following:

1. Vulgar language
2. Any personal attacks
3. Any comments, content, or posted links that promote or show discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, genetics, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or intellectual disability or sexual disability
4. Spam or links to other sites
5. Promotion of illegal activities
6. Promotion of particular services, products, or political organizations
7. Obvious infringements of copyrights or trademarks
8. Personally identifiable medical information
9. Information that may compromise public systems or any criminal or civil investigations.

The bottom line? Be nice and stay on topic.

Important Note: Comments submitted by members of the public on any of our social media accounts do not necessarily represent the opinions or positions of Pittsylvania County or any of our employees or officials.

Pittsylvania County monitors comments across these accounts but cannot guarantee that an inappropriate comment will be found and deleted as soon as it is made. County staff will delete inappropriate comments, particularly those that contain any vulgar language or personal attacks, as soon as they are noticed. If you notice comments that clearly violate these policies on any Pittsylvania County Social Media account, please contact the Public Relations Manager immediately.

For repeated offenders, Pittsylvania County holds the right to ban or block participation, as allowed by specific social media platforms.

Social Media and the Freedom of Information Act

Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, all content shared on Pittsylvania County social media accounts, as well as the comments and input that is provided by the public, is a public record. Comments that are deleted for violating our policy are still part of that public record and are thus subject to any VA FOIA request.