Twitter Policy

Availability

We will update and monitor our Twitter account during local business hours. We accept no responsibility for lack of service due to Twitter downtime.

Content

If you follow our accounts, you can expect weekly broadcasts covering some or all of the following subjects: crisis situations that require Canadian aid; newsworthy events involving the department or its representatives; government initiatives in which this department plays an important role; local events of interest to residents or to Canadians and links to important information on the mission web site, among others.

Links to Other Websites

From time to time, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada’s Twitter accounts may tweet links to websites that are not under the control of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada or the Government of Canada. These links are provided solely for the convenience of the users. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the content. The Government of Canada does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.

Tweet Frequency

The number of tweets will vary; depending on the number of media articles and other relevant material published each day. During some periods, we may tweet more or less frequently than average.

Following

At this time, we do not autofollow. We follow only selected Twitter accounts from our partners or stakeholders. Please note that being followed by us does not imply endorsement of any kind.

Retweets

We may occasionally retweet content that we deem of value to our audience. This is especially likely to happen during crisis situations, when time is of the essence in distributing critical information.

Retweeting by us should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the originator or of any organization the tweet refers to.

Direct Messages and @replies

We welcome feedback and ideas from all our followers. Unfortunately, we are not able to reply individually to all the messages we receive via Twitter.

All @replies and direct messages will be read and any emerging themes or helpful suggestions will be passed to the relevant people in the department.

Reporters are asked to send questions to the appropriate individual in our Media Relations Offices and refrain from submitting questions on Twitter.

We cannot engage on issues of party politics or answer questions that break the rules of our General Comments Policy. Contact information is available in the Contact Us section of our website.

Accessibility

Twitter, as a third party service provider, is not bound by Government of Canada policies for web accessibility.

The Government of Canada is committed to achieving a high standard of accessibility and is working to address issues with third-party service provider platforms. A more accessible version of Twitter is located at EasyChirp.

Copyright

Information posted by Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada is subject to the Copyright Act of Canada. For more information, see the Important Notices page on the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada website.

Official Languages

Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products are available in both French and English, of equal quality. DFATD's tweets are available in both official languages.

Through the very nature of the social media forum, content will vary between the English and French Twitter accounts, particularly where messages and comments are concerned. Any tweets or retweets that originate from Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada will be made available in both official languages when it concerns both English and French communities. Responses to direct messages and @replies will be made in the official language of origin.

Users should be aware that some links direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and that these sources are only available in the language in which they are written.

Twitter.com is available in multiple languages including English and French. To change this user preference, go in your account settings and adjust accordingly.

Additional Information

If you are looking for more information about the Department, please consult our website.

The usual ways of contacting us for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact Us section of our website.

For media enquiries

Media representatives can contact Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada’s Media Relations Offices during regular working hours and on an emergency basis after regular working hours.

Thank you for taking the time to read this policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.