Social Media Comment Policy

The National Ocean Service uses social networking platforms to connect and interact with different audiences. At this time, we share content on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, YouTube, and Reddit. Each of these social networking platforms has their own privacy policy. Follow these links to learn more about a specific privacy policy: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, YouTube, and Reddit.

We encourage public interaction and communication about the content we post on our social media accounts. However, this does not imply that the National Ocean Service agrees with or accepts the content, opinions, or views expressed within any public comment. The person who posts a comment is solely responsible for the content of the comment.

While we do not discriminate against views or opinions posted to our social networking accounts, we reserve the right to remove any comment. A comment will not be edited or modified to remove unacceptable content; the entire comment will simply be deleted. Some of the reasons we may remove a comment are listed below:

Abusive, vulgar, obscene, racist, threatening, or harassing comments
Libel, slander, or personal attacks of any kind, including the use of offensive terms that target specific individuals or groups
Clearly off topic
Spam, including content that promotes products or services or contains gratuitous links (links or references to other NOAA webpages or federal government sites are acceptable)
Political campaigning or lobbying

NOAA's National Ocean Service, part of the Department of Commerce, uses various third-party social media services for outreach. Use of these social media services may require a membership that subjects users to policies, requirements, or rules beyond the control of the Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce does not endorse membership in a particular social media service and takes no responsibility for any content that may be posted by other users. Communications made through social media services will not, in any way, constitute a legal or official notice to the Department of Commerce or any of its entities, officials, or employees.

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What is Social Media?

Social Media integrates technology, social interaction, and content creation, using the "wisdom of crowds" to collaboratively connect online information. Through social media, people or groups can create, organize, edit, comment on, combine, and share content.