The Facebook page for the Town of The Blue Mountains will continue to have the commenting option turned off.
At its committee of the whole meeting on August 14, council approved continuing to disable commenting on its Facebook social media page.
Town staff brought forward a report about the Facebook page, which the town launched approximately one year ago. At the time the page launched, council made the decision to disable public comments on any posts made on the page. Concerns were expressed about the amount of time that would be required for town staff to manage and moderate comments being made. Council also had concerns about comments being posted during non-business hours/weekends that might not receive review for several hours/days.
In the report, staff said the town’s Facebook page has grown to have more than 550 followers and it takes staff approximately 30 to 60 minutes each day to manage the town’s various social media pages.
Staff said council could choose to continue with the policy of no commenting allowed on the page, or open it up to public comments. They suggested opening the page to public comments would require more staff time.
“We’re potentially opening a can of worms,” said Coun. Paula Hope.
CAO Shawn Everitt said staff have the same concerns today about being able to monitor comments outside of regular business hours. Everitt also noted that nobody from the public has requested comments be enabled.
“We have had no requests for this to change,” said Everitt. “This report is not being brought forward because we have a bunch of individuals asking for (commenting),” he said.
Members of council felt that the current system is functioning well and there was no pressing reason to alter course.
“I don’t see the need to open it up if it is working,” said Coun. June Porter.
