Social Media Policy
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs' (TDHCA) official social media sites contain news and information directly related to TDHCA and its programs and services. If you have any questions or comments you would like addressed by TDHCA, please email socialmedia@tdhca.state.tx.us for review and consideration of posting and/or TDHCA direct mail (email) response.
TDHCA will use the following policies to guide the use of TDHCA social media sites and services. This Policy is based on the Texas.gov Social Media Policy and may be revised at any time.
Social Media Definition
TDHCA defines social media as World Wide Web-based sites or services that allow a person to create a profile and interact with other individuals. Interactions may take the form of chatting, instant messaging, playing online games, or posting text, multimedia content, or other files. Examples of social media sites and services include Facebook, Twitter, and online forums.
Linking
TDHCA is neither responsible for the content nor endorses any site which has a link to or from this page.
TDHCA may make available social media applications and may publish social media content to third party sites. These sites are not official Texas government websites and therefore the external sites' policies apply. Please refer to TDHCA’s Linking Policy for more information.
Privacy
Only public information is permitted to be posted on TDHCA social media sites. If communication that takes place on TDHCA social media sites involves or requires private information, communication will be redirected through other appropriate channels.
Postings from the public on TDHCA social media sites become public record. All content, comments and replies posted are subject to Texas public information laws and may be subject to public information requests. For more information about public information requests, please refer to the TDHCA Public Information Requests policy.
TDHCA is not responsible for content posted by others to TDHCA social media sites. TDHCA social media site users that enter their own personal information on TDHCA social media sites do so at their own risk; TDHCA is not responsible for the voluntary public display of such private information. TDHCA may remove postings to its social media sites that contain personally identifiable information, but neither TDHCA, nor its licensors or contractors are responsible for any damages caused by delays in such removal.
Records Retention
Social media content will be retained online for at least the required period of time in accordance with TDHCA's Records Retention Schedule. This time period is currently one year.
Terms of Service
TDHCA social media sites are third party sites and have terms of service and policies that are not governed by TDHCA or the State of Texas. These third party sites are not official TDHCA websites and the third party's website terms of service and policies apply.
Content of Social Media Posts
Published content on all TDHCA social media sites is subject to monitoring.
In order to preserve a respectful exchange of information on our page, TDHCA reserves the right to reject or remove any posts deviating from TDHCA-specific topics, such as those related to Department programs and services, and/or those which deviate significantly from a particular conversational thread.
User-generated posts will be rejected or removed if possible when the content of a post:
- is off-subject or out of context
- contains obscenity or material that appeals to the prurient interest
- contains personal identifying information or sensitive personal information, as defined in Tex. Code Bus & Com. Sec. 521.001 et. seq.
- contains offensive terms that target protected classes
- is threatening, harassing or discriminatory
- incites or promotes violence or illegal activities
- contains information that reasonably could compromise public safety
- advertises or promotes a commercial product or service, or any entity or individual (Note that non-commercial links that are relevant to the topic or another comment may be acceptable.)
- promotes, endorses, or denigrates political campaigns or candidates
In the above cases, TDHCA will normally reject or remove the content without notifying the poster.
Due to legal constraints, we are unable to respond to questions or comments relating to matters or issues in pending or anticipated litigation.
Anonymous comments are considered spam and will be removed.
TDHCA is neither responsible for the content nor endorses any site which has a link to or from any official TDHCA social media site. TDHCA may follow or like other social media sites for informational purposes only and does not imply TDHCA endorsement, agreement or support of any site content or sponsor.
The views expressed in user-posted comments, replies, retweets, likes, followers, favorites, and/or links reflect those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement or agreement by TDHCA, and do not necessarily reflect the official views and/or policies of TDHCA or the State of Texas. All content, comments, replies, and/or retweets, posted to any official TDHCA social media site are subject to Texas public information laws.
Formal Public Comment
Social media posts do not constitute official public comment and will not be included in the official record for TDHCA Governing Board consideration. TDHCA considers opinions expressed on any TDHCA social media site as posted for discussion only and not a substitute for a formal statement in the public comment process. Comments by external parties on TDHCA’s social media sites, including but not limited to replies, retweets, favorites, likes and other similar secondary postings are not considered official public testimony concerning any project or program.
Comments intended to become part of the official public comment records should be submitted in writing during applicable public comment periods to TDHCA via letter, fax, or email formats as directed for each specific document available for public comment.
For more information, visit our Public Comment Center page.
Accessibility
To accommodate users with disabilities, www.easychirp.com is a suggested alternative for access to the TDHCA Twitter communication.
The Facebook mobile site https://m.facebook.com is a suggested accessible alternative to the original TDHCA Facebook page.
