We recognize that many team members engage in social media activity. This policy establishes a set of rules and guidelines for any activity and participation on social media channels when commenting about GitLab or GitLab-related topics.
These rules are intended to be adaptable to the changes in technology and norms of online communication and behavior and may be amended by GitLab at any time, for any reason, without notice to team members. However, we will work to be as transparent as possible when communicating changes, what those changes are, and when they are expected to go into effect.
This policy also applies to social media activity when on or off duty, while using the Company's or personal electronic resources, and whether the team member posts anonymously or using a pseudonym.
Be diligent, and if it's questionable, don't say it. You are personally responsible for the social posts, likes and shares, and replies you post on social media while representing GitLab. Everything you publish is publicly viewable and will be available for a long time, even if redacted. Remember that you represent GitLab and our culture. When commenting on posts, please keep in mind: "Don't argue but represent".
You'll be asked to confirm reading this section during your onboarding to the company. We'll ask everyone to review and sign off on review in partnership with legal for existing employees.
If you've been identified as a spokesperson for the company or a specific function within GitLab, you may have unique circumstances. Please refer to your team guidelines or the communications team for more information about your work as a spokesperson and the social media policy.
The GitLab Social Media policy for team members applies to traditional social media channels, like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as "social-like" sites, like YouTube, HackerNews, Reddit, blogs (on the GitLab website, Medium, or any other online journals or diaries), message boards, forums (including the GitLab Forum, private groups or forums on public sites like Facebook Groups), and private/direct messages on public social media channels (Twitter DMs, Instagram Directs, etc.).
The term "social media" applies to any online technology in use now or in the future that enables you to send or receive information and communicate or interact with others. Any site where you can share a post or comment on a post would be considered a social media website for the purposes of this policy.
This policy is not intended to limit team members from sharing their feedback or reviews of their experiences at GitLab on sites like Glassdoor, Fishbowl, Indeed, or similar sites. While we encourage you to share feedback with your manager and the people ops team, we celebrate our value of transparency and welcome feedback from team members on these sites, as long as the feedback follows our SAFE Framework.
Please adhere to the Community Code of Conduct, Anti-Harrassment Policy, which includes sexual harrassment and discrimination policies, and our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. These policies all apply to team member behavior within social media and in public online spaces.
Click each recommendation below for more details
Whether you're an intern or our CEO, protecting the GitLab brand, the company, and our entire team is a part of your job description.
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In case you want to connect with fellow team members of GitLab on social media, you have to keep it professional. With this communication, we would like you to consider GitLab’s Communication Guidelines at all times. Aligned with our Anti-Harassment Policy, it is expected that everyone will contribute to an inclusive and collaborative working environment and respect each other at all times.
Keep your identity clear on social media channels by not using the GitLab logo as your profile image, not adding GitLab to your @handle, and not adding the company name to your display names.
Upon first glance of your social media profile, there should be immense clarity that you are a team member of GitLab and not GitLab the company. Use common sense when selecting pictures and names to use. We'll always work to get profile names and visuals updated to reflect who runs the account. If the corporate marketing team comes across profiles that don't respond to these requests, we will report them for impersonating our brand.
As a Team Member of GitLab, you aren't authorized to create company/brand social media profiles to use for your work. If promoting content should come from the company, you'll need to open a request issue with the organic social team. If the corporate marketing team encounters unauthorized profiles, they will be treated as external threats and reported for impersonation. There is no formal method for requesting new brand channels, nor is there an outline for managing to do so. It's best to use personally identified social media profiles to share your posts.
As part of your role at GitLab, you may be responsible for a contest or a sweepstakes with social media elements. It's important to follow legal guidelines. Essentially, as a representative of GitLab, if you're promoting the contest on your social media channels, it will need to follow the same rules as what the GitLab brand channels will need to follow. You can learn more about legal and contests in the handbook here.
Most social media websites/services have rules concerning the use of and activity conducted on their sites. These are sometimes referred to as “Terms of Use.” Team Members must follow the established terms and conditions of use that have been established by the website, social media network, or channel and not do anything that would violate those rules.
If the company finds any statements or claims that are false or misleading, or we discover an activity that does not follow the policy, we will contact you to correct the situation.
If you are consistently disregarding the social media policy, especially if you fail to disclose your relationship to GitLab, make false or misleading statements about GitLab or our products and services, GitLab retains the right to discipline, up to termination of employment with anyone that does not comply with this policy.
In the event there is any conflict between this social media policy and local laws and/or regulations for your region, the local laws and/or regulations prevail over our policy and must be followed. However, if the conflict is simply because of practice or customs varying between regions, our social media policy must still be followed.
Any conduct which is impermissible under the law if expressed in any other form or forum is also impermissible if expressed through social media.
See section below for location-specific details that are necessary to review.
Confidential proprietary information does not include information lawfully acquired by non-management employees about wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment, if used for purposes protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act such as joining or forming a union, engaging in collective bargaining, or engaging in other concerted activity for their mutual aid or protection.
GitLab will not enforce the social media policy in a manner that would interfere with team members' rights under the National Labor Relations Act to discuss the terms and conditions of employment.
You may not use data obtained in the course of your employment with GitLab in any way which breaches the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Take this policy and turn it into a social media certification in less than 45 minutes with the social media 101 training and certification. You'll find details on the training and what to expect here.
