Social Media: What we expect from you and what you can expect from us

BTO’s social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram), as well as any online event platforms, are for you to be able to interact with BTO and the wider birdwatching community.

It is also a place for you to learn about birds, ask questions, and identify opportunities to improve your skills.

There are many ways to get involved in BTO’s work, and our social media pages will keep you up to date on current surveys and projects. BTO encourages everyone to engage and contribute to our social media pages by leaving comments and questions or images and video.

We review all posts and reserve the right to remove any that are viewed as unsuitable or offensive.

Political views and ethical opinions posted by others do not represent the views or opinions of BTO, which is a non-campaigning, impartial charity. Sharing on our pages does not imply that we condone, support or endorse any view expressed in the shared post.

We believe that discrimination based on individual characteristics and circumstances, such as age; disability; caring or dependency responsibilities; gender or gender identity; marriage and civil partnership status; political opinion; pregnancy and maternity; race, colour, caste, nationality, ethnic or national origin; religion or belief; sexual orientation; socio-economic background; trade union membership status or other distinctions, is unacceptable.

Rules of conduct

Please make sure you:

  • Only post information you are happy for everyone to see
  • Keep comments or messages on-topic
  • Do not post offensive, indecent or obscene language
  • Be respectful towards others (defamatory or embarrassing is not acceptable)
  • Do not incite hatred (we respect the rights of individuals to hold different views and beliefs but will not allow these differences to be manifested in a way that is hostile or degrading to others)
  • Do not post personal or confidential information such as addresses, phone numbers etc.
  • Do not post links or direct others to sites containing viruses, corrupted files, or anything that may cause damage to or interfere with computer hardware or software
  • Do not break the law including libel, condoning illegal activity and breaking copyright
  • Do not spam or use the page to solicit business or promote campaigns
  • Do not post with a name or avatar which includes abusive or obscene words or images
  • Do not post images of people holding birds inappropriately

We reserve the right to remove anything which breaches the above or the standard terms and conditions of any social media or online event platform, or for any other reason at our discretion. We reserve the right to delete content which doesn't follow this guidance and repeat offenders may be banned from visiting our pages or joining future online events.

Where there are links to third party websites or resources, whether posted by us or a third party, you access these at your sole discretion and at your own risk. Our comments or messages are not intended to provide any professional advice and shall not be deemed to constitute the offer or provision of professional advice in any way.

We reserve the right to amend these rules of conduct at any time without prior notice. We welcome you to our social media pages and online events and hope you will enjoy this space with us.

If you are using social media to communicate your ringing or nest recording activities, we have additional guidance which we expect you to abide by. 

Communicating your nest monitoring and ringing activities


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