Operating Standard
Type: Administrative
Responsible:
Related Policies: A8000
Linked Procedures:
Related Laws:
Related Standards:
HLC Criterion:
1. Guideline Purpose
1.1 These guidelines are intended to help Shawnee Community College (SCC) administrators, faculty, and staff maintain a college-accepted standard for initiation and use of “official” Shawnee social media sites. These sites reflect the college in general, and should not be confused with personal social media sites set up by administrators, faculty and staff for personal use.
1.2 In general, any communication from the Shawnee Community College website or Shawnee Community College’s official social media sites reflect the College and should be written and structured in an appropriate, ethical, professional and lawful manner. Administrators, faculty, staff, students, and alumni using the college’s official social media sites and approved accounts should read and abide by these guidelines.
2. Definition of Shawnee Community College Social Media
2.1 A web page, set up within an already established social media site, administered by a college employee with the intent of communicating information in an official capacity to others on behalf of SCC in general or on behalf of a particular department or organization.
2.2 The purpose of SCC social media sites is to encourage communication from administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and district residents. Common social media sites include, but are not limited to, the college’s official Facebook pages, Twitter pages, and YouTube channels.
3. Related Documents
3.1 Users should refer to the following documents. With the exception of the employment agreement, the following documents are located at shawneecc.edu.
3.2 Additionally, Shawnee Community College employees should refer to the following documents.
- Administrative Policy Manual
- Notice of Employment
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
3.3 Refer to each social media’s website for terms and conditions section for related information.
4. Proper Usage
4.1 Prior to establishing a social media page for College use, employees must contact the SCC Public Relations office for proper organization, linking, and set-up. Pages are the preferred method of creating a Facebook presence. All SCC sponsored pages should link to the respective official page when that option is available.
4.2 A master list of all social media usernames and passwords are stored in a confidential file in the SCC Public Relations office. When establishing a new site, the username and password must be supplied for this master list.
4.3 The employee/user may not change the username and password without notifying the Public Relations office so that the master password list can be updated.
4.4 The supervisor of the employee responsible for posting to the college/departmental social media site must regularly monitor the social media page.
4.5 Content should be updated as appropriate which may be on a daily or weekly basis. Make sure there are plans for messaging, audience and goals, and develop a strategy for keeping information on social media sites up to-date.
4.6 The establishment of, and postings to, an official SCC social media site should be used only for legitimate college-related purposes and items of general interest to SCC administrators, faculty, students, alumni, and district residents.
4.7 Representation of personal opinions as being endorsed by the College or any of its organizations is strictly prohibited. The SCC social media sites may not be used to promote any product, political party or candidate.
4.8 By posting content to any social media site, you agree that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to that content, that your use of the content is protected fair use, that you will not knowingly provide misleading or false information.
4.9 SCC has the right to remove any content for any reason, including but not limited to, content that it deems threatening, obscene, a violation of intellectual property rights or privacy laws, or otherwise injurious or illegal. Any social media posts containing obscenities, verbal harassment, threats, slander, or offensive comments regarding gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other inappropriate or unlawful content is not allowed or permitted and will be removed. SCC, its Board of Trustees, and\or administration reserves the right, at its sole and exclusive discretion, to eliminate or shut down a social media site with or without notice.
4.10 When using or posting online material that includes direct or paraphrased quotes, thoughts, ideas, photos, or videos, always include citations. Provide a link to the original material if applicable.
4.11 Refrain from using information and conducting activities that may violate local, state, or federal laws, and regulations.
4.12 Any photos or other digital content posted on the college social media site should portray a favorable depiction of SCC, its faculty, staff, students, alumni, district residents and\or visitors; and should in no way contain obscenities, verbal harassment, threats, slander, or offensive comments or imagery regarding gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other inappropriate or unlawful content.
4.13 Any photos or other digital content posted by the employee on the College social media site must be owned by the college and be original photography or stock photographer where the college has paid usage rights or otherwise received permission for publication.
4.14 Personal and identifying information should not be posted on Shawnee social media sites, including but not
limited to:
- Student identification numbers
- Employee identification numbers
- Social security numbers
- Date of birth
- Personal address
- Personal phone numbers
- Driver’s license numbers
- License plate
4.15 Employees may not post content or conduct any activity that fails to conform to any and all applicable state and federal laws. For Shawnee College’s employees’ protection, it is critical that everyone abide by the copyright laws by ensuring that they have permission to use or reproduce any copyrighted text, photos, graphics, video or other material owned by others. Users will respect copyrighted material and agree to not reproduce and/or send any material unless all references, quotes, and sources are properly cited.
4.16 Use the institution name Shawnee Community College in its entirety in social media posts to clearly identify the college. The use of the SCC acronym or Shawnee in subsequent references in the same post is acceptable.
4.17 Never comment on anything related to legal matters, litigation, or any parties SCC may be in litigation with.
4.18 Do not represent yourself or SCC in a false or misleading way. All statements must be true and not misleading; all claims must be substantiated.
5. Privacy and Monitoring
5.1 Shawnee Community College reserves the right to delete offensive comments as outlined in this guideline and to block or revoke use of social media sites by repeat offenders to this policy.
5.2 Social media sites are not private. The expectation of privacy is not conveyed to you as a user/administrator of Shawnee’s social media site/sites.
5.3 Users agree to not post or share user names and/or passwords.
5.4 Users agree to not retrieve or post messages that are not their own. Invasion of privacy, unlawful access to information, and posing as another individual are actions subject to discipline and/or legal action.
5.5 Users will treat the College social media sites as a form of permanent correspondence that leaves a permanent record once posted, and cannot be recalled.
5.6 All official college social media sites are regularly reviewed by the Public Relations Office.
5.7 The supervisor of the employee responsible for posting to the college/departmental social media site must regularly monitor the social media page.
5.8 All social media accounts officially recognized by Shawnee must have Shawnee faculty or staff member as an administrator at all times.
5.9 Should a Shawnee employee administrator of an account leave the College for any reason or no longer wish to be an account administrator, it is that individual’s responsibility to designate another Shawnee employee to be an account administrator prior to removing himself or herself from that role. The public relations office should be notified when a new administrator takes over.
5.10 In the event that a question is posted by an individual, the site administrator will refer the poster to the appropriate Shawnee department or will reply within the scope of the public relations office’s knowledge base. When necessary the public relations office will request an answer from the appropriate Shawnee department. Responses should be made back to the public relations office or, when appropriate, posted directly on the original social media post.
6. Contacts
6.1 The Public Relations office is the primary administrator for the College’s main pages on any social media site.
6.2 If you would like to contribute or make a suggestion about these sites, please contact the SCC Public Relations office at 618-634-3270 or marketing@shawneecc.edu.
New Policy: December 2011
Revised: August 2015, July 2016
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