- Best Practices for using social media responsibly
- Social Media definitions
- Student Policy
- Employee Guidelines
- Contacts for additional help and information
- Instructor plans for classroom use
- usage plan worksheet
- General Social Media Policy
Social Media Definitions: What is Social Media?
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary:
A comprehensive list of ALL social media sites is nearly impossible to produce given the new and emerging sites being produced as technology continues to evolve and change. The list below is representative of the most common and popular social media sites being used as of 2013.
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Blogger
4. Pinterest
5.Google Plus
6.Linkdln
7.Instagram
8.Youtube
9.Flickr
10.Yahoo!
These are all examples of popular social media sites. It is important to understand new sites and trends are emerging every day. Our policy and guidelines will be suitable for the usage of different sites and future sites, by setting a standard to be followed that best displays professionalism and a positive digital footprint from the start.
General Guidelines:
* The purpose of using these communication channels on behalf of McCann School of Business is to support McCann’s mission, goals, programs, and sanctioned efforts, including news, information, content and directives.
* Prior to engaging in any form of social media involving McCann School of Business, you must receive permission from the supervisor as appointed by your department head and notify the Director of Communications.
* When using an officially recognized social media channel, assume at all times that you are representing McCann School of Business.
* Confidential or proprietary school information or similar information of third parties, who have shared such information with you on behalf of McCann School of Business, should not be shared publicly on these social media channels.
* Mccann.edu, as well as McCann’s main social media accounts may choose to post school related social media content generated by faculty, staff and/or students. McCann’s main social media accounts can be accessed through the faculty or student portal Web site.
Employee Guidelines:
* Keep employee records and information confidential
* Use of the Mccann.edu Facebook page is not appropriate use as your personal page
* Follow all applicable state, federal, and university laws, faculty and staff handbooks, regulations, and policies, such as FERPA, and HIPPA Regulations. Any content and/or online activity created by a poster or site moderator that violates these ordinances, or contains/leads to the release of a student’s private personal information is strictly prohibited and should be removed.
* Protect confidential information with privacy laws, especially FERPA: "The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.
* Templates, proper logos, and department color numbers are available from the Marketing Department. Please be careful to use only the approved logos, colors and templates for backgrounds, avatars and other electronic communications that are pre-approved.
* Please use common sense when posting and respect that each post is representative of the McCann School of Business Name.
* Whenever, as a member of the McCann faculty, you utilize a social medium as a means of student participation in course work is sure to provide a practical and appropriate alternative for students who may be unable or reluctant to utilize that social medium (for example, some students may not be comfortable with opening a Facebook account).
Student Guidelines:
Follow proper netiquette and professionalism for appropriate use of social media. Netiquette is Based on the definition from the dictionary, a noun that represents the social and moral code of all on-line interactions among users and social media behavior. It is a concept of appropriate social intelligence while using and communicating on the Internet. Netiquette can be likening to your table manners in an on-line environment. It focuses on respect, courtesy, and common misconception elements some find while trying to communicate a message in cyberspace. Netiquette is appropriate in every on-line space from social media, e-mails, Twitter, blogs, forum post and beyond. The way we behave in the on-line environment echoes who we are as a person to those who are not in a physical location with us, but rather in a proxy setting on-line.
For more information, please visit Jason Marconi's Netiquette home page, developed in Educational Technology class 502:
Student Policy:
* Sign your post with your real name and indicate your relationship to Mccann. Do not use pseudonyms or post anonymously.
* Respect the views of others, even if you disagree.* Be truthful, accurate and complete in describing Mccann programs and services.
* Strive to be accountable to Mccann audiences via regular updates and prompt responses when appropriate.
* Obey the Terms of Service of any social media site or platform in which you participate.
* Whenever appropriate, link back to information posted on the school's website instead of duplicating content.
* Do not use social media to harass, threaten, insult, defame or bully another person or entity; to violate any College policy; or to engage in any unlawful act, including but not limited to gambling, identity theft or other types of fraud.
* Do not post or store content that is obscene, pornographic, defamatory, racist, excessively violent, harassing, threatening, bullying or otherwise objectionable or injurious. In addition, do not attempt to compromise the security of any Mccann social media site or use such site to operate an illegal lottery, gambling operation, or other illegal venture.
* Do not post copyrighted content (such as text, video, graphics or sound files) without permission from the holder of the copyright. Remember, even information that is widely available to the public (such as text, photographs, or other material posted on the Internet) may be subject to copyright restrictions that prohibit unauthorized duplication or dissemination. For more information, please review the McCann School of Business Copyright Policy posted on the student portal.* Do not make false claims or representations about Mccann programs or services, and do not speculate or guess if you do not know the information.
* Do not spread gossip, rumors, or other unverified information. Furthermore, do not assume that everything posted on a social media site is true.
* Do not disclose confidential information
*You are encouraged to link to your source material ANY TIME you are able. This will help reduce the possibility of misinformation and it will drive traffic.
All staff, faculty and students are asked to read and answer these questions before engaging in social media whether through personal use or for the school. The University of Oregon has inspired this checklist and Vanderbilt based on their social media policy guidelines.
Create a social media plan by writing out answers to the following questions:
- Responsible People: Who will have the responsibility for populating, maintaining and monitoring your social media presence? Do they have skills and time? List the team members. AVOID relying only on students. School faculty or staff member must have administrative privileges to all accounts and is responsible for controlling permissions and security to the accounts.
- Main Goals and Strategies: What do you hope to do? Launch a campaign, promote your department, and communicate externally? With alumni, media or donors? Internal communications? Define your goal and list promotions tactics, ex. “We will list our Facebook url on all print materials.”
- Define and Measure Your Success: What do you hope to gain? How will you know when you have it? Do you want increased traffic to your website? More energetic give and take with prospective students? You want to reach out to new colleagues on campus or around the world. Define success, how you will measure it, and the tools you need to measure it (Google Analytics?).
- Who's coming to your party?: This is about audience. Targeting specific groups, like prospective students, English faculty members, the class of ‘95 will help you tailor your content and conversation. List your primary audiences. Do you have secondary ones, too? How will you reach out to them initially? Remember simply setting up a Facebook page isn't enough. You have to invite people there.
- Engagement and conversations: Nobody likes it when you talk constantly about yourself. It shows bad social skills. In social media, you need to be a good conversationalist. Sometimes small talk is more valuable than messaging. How will you engage informally with your audience? For example, the most active conversations on McCann’s Facebook page sometimes center on the best things to do on a sunny spring day. Pepper your presence with questions. It is, after all, social media.
- Shhh… Before you talk, listen: What are people saying in similar spots? What are people saying about you? Who is talking? List who is talking, about what, and where?
- Content: What content will you share? Is it news or engagement-based? Images? Video? List the content you will be sharing via social media and the kinds of things you think are successful. Remember, it is social, so it should not always be about you. Sometimes, it should be about your users. Will you solicit input from them? How will you foster the loyalty required to defend you when you need it most?
- Evaluation: Schedule an evaluation of your effort’s success based on the plan you outlined by answering these questions. Be ready to recast your site’s content and strategy. Regular evaluation should also be part of your effort. It's OK to fail on some things. Set out your timeline. This is not a project. It is an ongoing effort.
Instructor Plan for Social Media Use in the classroom
The following should be used as guideline for instructors looking to utilize the benefits of social media as a learning tool.
* Create and follow a plan ahead of time. You attempt to incorporate social media without a policy or plan you will be at risk of failure and then perhaps even a disregard for future activities, because it was unsuccessful.
* Explain the "why" to students thoroughly, and understand the “why” for yourself as an educator. Before adopting social media as a tool just to adopt it, research its benefits. Create a foundation for yourself as to what social media site is best for your purpose and what you want to accomplish.
*Create a rubric for students to follow that nudges them towards your ultimate goal with the social media. Leaving the commenting and usage up to the students may not result in what you are looking for. Setting a rubric that specifies commenting, posting, and sharing will help the students recognize what you are looking for. The rubric should follow your plan and have that plans goals as the center piece along with what you want the learning outcome to be. Again, using social media as the tool to get there instead of as the learning itself.
*Maintain positive and functional feedback to the students while encouraging them to have a voice.
* Explain to the students that will have contact with outside centers of influence they are representing not only our school, but also themselves as a personal brand as well as you the instructor. Constant professionalism is key.
* Always, have a backup plan. Relying 100% on technology or social media for an entire lesson plan or entire weeks’ worth of instruction is dangerous. Connectivity is never a guarantee so always have a plan B for what you wish to accomplish
* Plan to incorporate students that may fall within the digital divide. If you have students working with social media outside classroom hours, be sure to have alternatives for those who may not have access to devices or the Internet. No one should feel left out, and no should feel slighted due to their circumstances. Plan this accordingly.
* Survey, Survey, Survey. Gaining feedback from your students is important. Do not wait until the end to gather feedback, you want to gauge the entire process from the students (and sometimes parents) perspective from beginning, middle, and end. This is especially important if you're using social media for the first time.
* Don't fear the unknown. If you are unsure where to start with incorporating social media, network with those who have. There is a best practices page on our employee portal, utilize this to interact with other instructors who have been using social media.
* Stay current and stay informed. Students are aware of what is new and what is old as far as social media is concerned. Staying updated on which platform to use and how to use it, will bode well for when you're writing a lesson plan. Adopting an educational approach to new technology will also be impressive in the student’s eyes. * Share! Social media would not be what it is today, if everyone kept to themselves. Sharing with parents, other faculty and the FULL student body will help in our best practices approach and help build our social media presence for the better.
Contact for questions and info:
For campus support and questions contact John Doe IT program Director, or Jane DoeRegistrar
Other questions and answers can be found in our employee handbook and student handbook under Media guidelines and procedures section four.
Note:
This policy has been pieced together with the help of other existings policies found in a search of College Campus social media policies. The reference sheet can be found below.
REFRENCE
Boudreaux, C. (n.d.). Policy Database. Chris Boudreaux on Social Media Governance. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php
Lasica, J. (n.d.). Best practices for developing a social media policy. www.socialmedia.biz. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://socialmedia.biz/social-media-policies/best-practices-for-developing-a-social-media-policy/
(2012, January 1). Social Media Policy. Marketing Communications. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://www.seattleu.edu/marcom/Inner.aspx?id=53083
(2013, January 1). University of Houston. Social Media Policy -. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://www.uh.edu/policies/social-media/
University of Oregon. (n.d.). Social Media Best Practices. Digital and Social Media Communications. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://digital.uoregon.edu/social-media-best-practices
