Using social media procedure

Social media community guidelines

Girlguiding’s official social media channels provide an online space for us to share our activities, projects and news and to interact with our audiences.

You can access our social media platforms through these links:

• Girlguiding Facebook account
• Girlguiding for members Facebook account
• Girlguiding Instagram account
• Girlguiding LinkedIn account
• Girlguiding TikTok account
• Girlguiding YouTube account

We want our social media channels to reflect the values we uphold as an organisation; to be kind, courteous, thoughtful of others, inclusive, inspiring and above all, fun.

To make this possible, we ask that you follow the guidelines below when interacting on our social media channels:

• Be respectful of others and their opinions at all times.
• Stay on topic. Your comments should be related to the topics on our social channels.
• Don’t post content unless it belongs to you, or you have the proper permission from its rightful owner. This includes photos and videos – please see our guidance on sharing photos and videos.
• Don’t discriminate or promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age or other protected characteristics.
• Don’t make personal attacks in your comments.
• Don’t post content that could be seen to be defamatory, libellous, obscene, inflammatory, offensive, harassing, abusive, hateful, threatening, profane or personally abusive.
• Don’t post adverts or promote commercial products or services.
• Don’t breach any of the terms of the social media platforms themselves.
• If you’re a volunteer or member of staff, ensure you’re aware of and follow our safeguarding policy and procedures.

On Facebook we use filters to automatically hide obscenities. We’ll use our own discretion to determine whether posts to our social media channels breach these guidelines. We reserve the right to hide or delete comments made on our channels, as well as block users who persistently go against these guidelines. We’ll always offer alternative ways of contacting us.

Our social media channels are monitored daily, all year round. If you have questions, need support, or guidance we’ll respond between 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday except on bank holidays.

Should you have any concerns related to the conduct of those within, or associated with Girlguiding, please email [email protected] with details.

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Setting up Girlguiding social media pages or accounts

If you’re setting up a social media page or account which represents, or is associated with any part of Girlguiding, you must follow some basic principles to make sure you’re being a great ambassador for Girlguiding:

• Report any safeguarding concerns in line with our safeguarding policy.
• Keep everyone’s data safe by following our managing information policy, and ensure Girlguiding is a welcoming place for all by following our equality and diversity policy.
• Follow the platform’s community guidelines and terms and conditions, including on age restrictions.
• Check our guidance on how to use our brand.
• Include a short description of what the account is for and who it represents. For example, ‘This is the X account for the Narnia district where you can hear all about the fun we have! The views expressed here are those of the Narnia district team’.
• Make sure you use the most appropriate privacy settings for the account. For example, if you want to promote guiding opportunities in the area, you’ll want to make sure members of the public can see the page. But if you use it to keep parents and carers up to date on unit meeting activities and events, you’ll need to make sure the group is private. Follow the guidance on this page for setting up private social media groups.
• If you use social media to discuss any personal information about a young member, make sure to do so in a private communication with the parent or carer registered on GO.

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Sharing photos and videos on social media

Sharing photos, videos and other images on your guiding social media is a great way to show what Girlguiding is all about.

You can find out more about our photo and video style in our brand guidelines.

But always check you have the right permissions before posting. Parents and carers decide permissions when they complete the join us form and the new starter form.

• You can only share images of young members with unit-only permission in closed groups for parents and carers.
• If a young member has marketing permission, you can share their images on public-facing social media.
• If there’s more than 1 young member in a photo, you need to follow the more restrictive permissions. For example, if 1 young member in the group photo has given unit-only permission for photos and videos, the photo can’t be shared outside the unit even if the other young members’ photo permissions allow this.
• Our photo permission options don’t cover sharing images on volunteers’ personal social media. This means you mustn’t post images of young members taken in your volunteering role on your personal Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or other social media.

Find out more about handling photos and videos, including taking photos and videos at events, and how to store them safely.

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Running social media accounts

There’s lots to think about when it comes to running social media accounts day to day.

Talk with your unit or area team and decide:

• Who will have access to the account, and what level of access will they have? You should make sure more than 1 person has full moderator access in case something goes wrong, and so that you can share responsibility and support each other.
• Who will post, and what will you post about? Are there any emotive topics you’ll avoid? Content must always be relevant to Girlguiding, and in keeping with our values.
• Will you use social media to engage in anything political? Any political activity should be in line with Girlguiding's charitable objectives, and you must never endorse political parties or candidates in your role with Girlguiding. If there’s an election coming up, you’ll need to take extra care as there are regulations about campaigning and political activities by charities. You can find out more in our general election guidance.
• How often will you post, or check the account for comments and messages?
• Who will delete posts, and when?
• How will you deal with comments from other users? You might want to adopt the social media community guidelines for interacting with the official Girlguiding social media, or make your own.

Find out more about handling photos and videos, including taking photos and videos at events, and how to store them safely.

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Your personal social media

As a volunteer, you must follow our code of conduct. So be aware of what you say and how you say it when you’re online. Think about whether your posts and comments are appropriate, and in keeping with our values and expectations.

If you're clearly seen to be part of Girlguiding on your social media (for example, tagging @Girlguiding in your profile or are in uniform in your profile image), you must avoid posting party political messages during any election period.

Our photo permission options don’t cover sharing images or videos on your personal social media. This means you mustn’t post images or videos of young members taken in your volunteering role on your personal social media.

You mustn’t add or follow young members under 18 or allow them to follow you on your personal social media accounts, unless you already know them outside of Girlguiding. Take a look at our communicating with young members online procedure for more information on interacting with young members on social media.

You can decide whether to add or follow adult volunteers or parents or carers on your personal accounts.

And remember that anything you post on social media can easily be shared, even if your account is set to private.

If your behaviour online isn’t appropriate, we may look at it under our managing concerns about adult volunteers policy.

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Responding to online incidents

If something goes wrong online or involving social media, escalate any issues to your commissioner as soon as possible. They can help you decide on the most appropriate action to take.

This might involve deleting posts or comments, reporting behaviour to the social media platform, or reporting a concern to our HQ safeguarding team or HQ complaints and compliance team.

Some possible issues you might face include:

• Complaints and criticism. How would you normally handle this offline? Can you do it in the same way? Don’t forget, you can pass complaints on to your commissioner or direct people to our HQ complaints and compliance team at [email protected].
• Abusive messages. Sending abusive messages online is unacceptable behaviour, and receiving these messages can be distressing and overwhelming. If anyone involved in Girlguiding is sending abusive messages, get in touch with your commissioner or our HQ complaints and compliance team ([email protected]). Our anti-bullying and harassment procedure explains how you should respond to different types of bullying. Consider blocking the person sending the messages or asking another volunteer to look after the account temporarily.
• Posts about someone’s wellbeing. If a member is posting content that makes you concerned about their wellbeing, follow our safeguarding policy and procedure.
• Hacking. Do you have another way to contact people to let them know if someone has hacked into your account? You don’t want anyone to click on a link that downloads a virus, pay money, or share personal information with a stranger.
• Fake accounts or impersonation. Do you have a way to check that the person is who they say they are? Could you check with a parent or carer in another way before you add them to a private group?
• Data breaches. Follow our managing information procedure on reporting a data breach. Or contact our data protection team ([email protected]) for advice.

After an incident, you should talk to your unit team, local commissioner, or area team about whether the steps you took were the right ones. Would you do anything differently if it happens again?

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Change log

• January 2026 – new procedure published. Incorporates existing guidance on social media community guidelines, sharing photos and videos on social media, running Girlguiding social media groups and your personal social media.

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