To highlight our commitment to transparency in government, the Mass.Gov portal has launched several new web based tools for outreach, education and information. These tools are not intended to replace the channels currently in place for press and constituent communication. Press inquiries should be directed to Alex Zaroulis at alex.zaroulis@state.ma.us or 617-727-2040, and questions or complaints regarding agency services should be directed to The Executive Office for Administration and Finance at contactanf@state.ma.us or 617-727-2040. Rather, these tools are meant to augment our ability to educate, empower, and inform the residents of Massachusetts.

Please note, that Records Retention Law of the Commonwealth requires the Mass.Gov portal team to preserve records created or received by a state employee. Pursuant to this retention requirement comments posted or messages received via an official state agency page on a third-party web-site (such as an official agency profile on a social network) will be treated as state governmental records and may be permanently archived. Information that you submit voluntarily through social media sites associated with this agency where such information is publically available, including your name, city or town, and the substance of anything that you post may be disseminated further by being posted online at this website or be publicly discussed by a member of the administration.

The policies below pertain only to the main Mass.Gov portal content; individual agencies may have different policies. Please be sure to review the privacy policies and terms of use for any social media accounts you access through a link from Mass.Gov as they may differ based on the agency hosting the content.

The information below pertains only to the main Mass.Gov portal:

Blogs

Commonwealth Conversations is the official blog site for Commonwealth agencies. We encourage you to visit these blogs often and participate by subscribing to and commenting on our posts. Please review each particular blog's terms of comment to learn more about how this blog is and is not used by the particular agency. Also note that these blogs are actually hosted by Typepad, and is governed by a separate Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. These policies apply to your use of the Commonwealth Conversations blogs.

RSS Feeds

While you can always check the Mass.Gov portal for regular updates, it's often easier to have information come to you. RSS lets you do just that. When you subscribe to an RSS feed, updates come to you as we post them.

Mass.Gov and many agencies offer RSS feeds to press releases and other relevant news and information. Get more information about RSS feeds and how to use them .

Twitter

To view the Mass.Gov Portal Twitter page, visit www.twitter.com/massgov. Twitter is a free social networking site that allows users to send and read other users' short updates (up to 140 characters in length). While people use Twitter in many different ways for both personal and professional reasons, as a matter of policy:

  • The Mass.Gov use of Twitter is intended as a means to provide announcements and updates on current events or notices to any other users who elect to watch or follow our Twitter feed.
  • The account is maintained and monitored by members of the Mass.Gov team.
  • We do not follow individual people back who follow us, but we do follow other official government-sponsored Twitter accounts, including official state agency Twitter accounts.
  • Twitter is one of the many means we're using to connect residents with their government. We'll review and update Twitter as much as possible as we monitor and maintain other channels of feedback.
  • Unless you protect your updates, messages you post on Twitter are received by the Agency may be public records and may also be publicly available. Because not everyone knows that we are on Twitter, we occasionally search for 'tweets' that talk about Mass.Gov but don't reference our account, "@massgov" and let that user know about our account. We periodically perform these searches to enable us to more effectively listen to and engage with constituents.
  • The Mass.Gov Portal will not respond via Twitter to press inquiries, resident questions or complaints, or other constituent matters. Please see our help page to find information on reporting a technical issue. We also maintain an list of state agencies and an A-Z Subject Index to help you find the information you are looking for.
  • Also note that this micro-blog is hosted by Twitter and is governed by Twitter's separate website policies, including its Privacy Policy and Terms of Service These policies apply to your use of Twitter.