Social media have both positive and negative implications for public officials and agencies. The legal issues represent one such set of implications.

• First Amendment issues relating to government restrictions on speech;
• Use of public resources, including both personal and political use;
• Restrictions on employee use of social media, both on behalf of the agency and personally;
• Open meeting law issues; and
• Public records retention and disclosure issues.

The best way to address these issues is to adopt policies that guide both the public and staff on how the agency is using the tools offered by social media. This article discusses these issues and includes excerpts from public agencies’ social media policies.