Nearly everyone has at least one social media account these days — whether it’s Facebook, Instragram, Snapchat or any of the dozens of other digital platforms that provide people a way to speak out or express themselves creatively.

Public officials, government organizations, private citizens and public employees — they’re all online, for the most part. It is 2018, after all.

Less ubiquitous, however, are guidelines laying out how employees are expected to behave while they’re using these platforms at work. That includes Butler County, which lacks such a guidebook.

That needs to change. The county needs a reasonable and current social media policy, so employees and officials know the ground rules and what to expect if they cross the line.

The litmus test for these kinds of policies isn’t rocket science. They should promote common sense values and respect public employees’ rights to free speech.

Too often these days those rights are conflated with the notion that people should be able to say whatever they want, no matter how repugnant or abusive, without fear of repercussions in their professional and personal lives.

That’s simply not a shield conferred by the Constitution. And organizations from private business to local governments should be able to define — again, with common sense as their north star — what is and is not acceptable online conduct by their employees when they are on-the-job.

Butler County’s policy, which is up for review and a vote today, appears to play by these rules. Here’s one of the guidelines laid out in the proposed policy: “Be respectful, honest and act with integrity.”

Can anyone seriously argue that these qualities are outside the bounds of what taxpayers should expect of the men and women they employ?

What about this guideline: “Use good judgment and be productive on the job.”? Seems reasonable to us.

Where these policies fail is when they overreach or fail to explain, in clear and precise language, what exactly employees are allowed to do and expected to avoid while at work.

The county’s policy appears to avoid those pitfalls. It even goes so far as to outline explicitly what employees are allowed to do, in addition to the kind of conduct could result in disciplinary action.

Again, those prohibitions seem straightforward and reasonable. Racism, sexism and creating a hostile work environment won’t be tolerated; employees should not disclose proprietary or confidential information, or claim to represent the county without authorization.

Commissioner Leslie Osche said Monday that the policy’s creation isn’t a response to any incident that has already occurred.

That’s a very good thing, because it surely would be more difficult to react to such a situation without having clear guidelines in place — which is exactly why the county needs a clear, concise policy like the one up for consideration today.

We can’t see any reason why commissioners should not give their approval and put this policy in place.