The Neutrality Trap: How Local Governments Can Promote Their Communities Without Playing Favorites

“If you highlight one business, are you slighting the others you don’t mention?”
That’s the Neutrality Trap — a challenge that keeps many towns and counties from using social media to its full potential.

In prior blog posts, we have written about the value created when community leaders and elected officials amplify the voices of local organizations. By resharing posts from, e.g., the local school district, youth sports’ organizations, the food bank, YMCA, officials cultivate new audiences while exemplifying servant leadership.

In conversations with dozens of local officials, however, questions about neutrality have come up. How should they pick which organizations and pages to spotlight, and will they appear to be playing “favorites”? This worry–the neutrality trap–keeps them from engaging. But here’s the problem:

• Residents expect updates online. Nearly half of U.S. adults get news from social media at least sometimes, with Facebook still dominant.

• Social boosts trust. Research shows government social posts during crises improve both citizen response and confidence.

• Silence has costs. With fewer local newspapers, official government accounts are often the only reliable source of information.

The result? Staying too quiet to avoid favoritism risks leaving an information vacuum — one that unofficial pages or rumor can easily fill.

How The Neutrality Trap Shows Up in Practice

• White Stone, VA: Keeps its Facebook strictly official, avoiding business mentions to preserve neutrality. The town’s credibility is safe, but its storytelling is limited.

• Tappahannock, VA: Uses a tourism-focused platform where residents upload photos. That lets staff highlight themes like “riverfront dining” or “weekend itineraries” without endorsing single businesses.

• Waynesboro, VA: Posts sparingly, focusing on safety and service notices. Leaders describe social as “connection media, not community-building.”

• Cleveland County, NC: Centralizing multiple accounts (sheriff, animal services, event center). Leadership wants benchmarks and examples to avoid missteps when posting on sensitive topics like property revaluations.

What the Data Shows

Our GovFeeds dataset — indexing thousands of public posts from NC and VA governments — reveals a clear pattern: local leaders already rely heavily on neutrality-friendly categories.

(Sample distribution of posts across NC/VA: Public Safety, Events, Parks, Shop Local by Category)

The Risk vs. the Solution (Side-by-Side)

Here’s what the Neutrality Trap looks like in action — and how to avoid it:

Risky Post ----> “Check out Joe’s Diner — best burgers in town!”

Neutral Post ----> “Enjoy downtown restaurants after the concert tonight. See our full dining directory ➝”

Why it works: Both posts support the local economy. But the second one frames it inclusively, builds community pride, and avoids favoritism.

Five Playbook Moves to Break the Trap

1. Promote categories, not companies
   → Group posts by type (“breakfast spots,” “parks,” “local shops”) and link to directories.

2. Rotate themes with a calendar
   → “First Fridays: arts & culture. Second Saturdays: parks & trails.” Everyone gets a turn.

3. Leverage UGC with clear rules
   → Residents submit photos; staff curate by category. Authentic, fair, and low-effort.

4. Think regional, not individual
   → Partner with chambers or tourism boards for shared campaigns (e.g., White Stone’s “River Realm”).

5. Build evergreen content banks
   → Pre-draft seasonal safety posts, holiday shop-local reminders, and parks promotions so staff aren’t scrambling.

Neutrality doesn’t have to mean silence. With category-based framing, content rotation, UGC pipelines, and regional partnerships, governments can post confidently — and residents will thank them for it.

At Public Square Analytics, we build tools like GovFeeds to help local leaders find real-world examples and benchmarks, so they don’t fall into the Neutrality Trap.

👉 Curious how peers handle neutrality in their posts?
Request a GovFeeds demo and explore thousands of government examples across your state.