Social media guidelines

Background

As the world of communications is changing rapidly, The University of Akron (“UA”) is embracing the use of new and emerging technologies. The myriad of new communications tools presents a powerful opportunity:

• to strengthen relationships with students, alumni and other important audiences and
• to build college or department brands in support of the UA brand of energy and innovation.

The emergence of these new tools also presents some challenges. These guidelines are meant to provide a framework for the effective and acceptable use of these new and emerging communications tools by those associated with UA.

Scope of guidelines

These guidelines apply to the full range of social media tools, including, but not limited, to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunesU, podcasting and blogs. The guidelines apply to any UA office or department that is using the tools in a UA-sanctioned, UA-branded capacity to promote their programs and services or to communicate with their publics.

The use of these tools for instructional purposes is out of the scope of these guidelines; for assistance in this realm, contact Instructional Services.

Offices and departments that wish to author a UA-sanctioned social media tool should first contact Institutional Marketing for training, branding and communication guidance. Technical questions and problems may be directed to Instructional Services.

To help drive traffic to your social media, Institutional Marketing will add your site to the list the UA-sanctioned and UA-branded social media sites that are being updated routinely by colleges and departments. The page will also contain a link to these guidelines.

Guideline basics

UA social media sites are intended to foster collaboration and sharing of information to enhance the spirit of community among UA faculty, staff, retirees, students, alumni, donors, friends and community members. While permitting readers to comment on social media sites often can help build a sense of community, offices and departments have the discretion to decide for themselves whether to allow readers to post comments.

By creating and making use of social media tools, UA does not intend to create and is not creating public forums.

The views and opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of UA, its leadership, its Board of Trustees or any of its employees. All information posted must comply with federal and state laws and the policies and rules of the UA Board of Trustees.  All information must comply with applicable copyright law.

UA reserves the right to remove any posts or comments that UA determines is in violation of any law, regulation, policy, rule, or is obscene, lewd, lascivious, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable. Such posts or comments should be captured (with a screen shot, ideally) and Institutional Marketing (ext. 7048) should be notified.

Response to critical comments

UA values openness and the free exchange of ideas. We recognize that the two-way exchange of information is intrinsic to social media tools, and that the public airing of constructive criticism will be part of this exchange. Generally, UA will not monitor, review, approve or endorse any comments posted. However, there are times when user comments on UA-sanctioned social media sites will be brought to the University’s attention. These guidelines are intended, in part, to help inform the decision-making concerning such comments.

• When the comments are a rant or rage (when the commenter’s objective is to ridicule or satirize): UA personnel are generally encouraged to ignore rants and rages. Such rants violate the norms of the social networking world, and oftentimes, other members, on their own, will react constructively to rectify the situation.
• When the comments are (1) clearly and demonstrably inaccurate and (2) the accuracy of the comment could create confusion or pose a reputational or business risk to UA: In that scenario, UA encourages the posting of a courteous response with correct information, along with some identification that the post is coming from an authorized representative of UA (e.g., “This is Stan and I work in Institutional Marketing at UA. I noticed Steve’s earlier post today, and I want to offer some context and correct a point he made…”).  If you have questions, Institutional Marketing can provide guidance.
• When the comments describe an instance in which did not meet the expectations of a student or parent, UA personnel should consider posting a comment that explains who they are and either describes the situation, rectifies it or offers to continue the conversation offline, whichever is appropriate. Call Institutional Marketing at ext. 7048 for guidance, if needed.

Other considerations

• Promotion-oriented posts and comments: On UA-sanctioned social media sites, office and departments are permitted to promote outside interests only when UA is directly involved in the activity through participation, sponsorship or partnership with one of its recognized organizations, colleges or departments. Further, UA departments and offices will discourage readers from posting comments that have the primary purpose of promoting commercial interests outside of UA.

• Copyright: Posting of copyrighted materials is the sole responsibility of the author(s), which includes the obligation to acquire all permissions from copyright owners.

• Ownership and backups: Departments and offices are encouraged to ensure that more than one person is capable of managing both the technical and content-generation aspects of the tools used. This includes ensuring that more than one person has the current password to access the site(s) at all times. Such passwords should be held securely, and they should be changed periodically. 

Need help?

For assistance, contact:

Bob Kropff
Institutional Marketing
Ext. 7048
bobk@uakron.edu