Grand Valley State University Social Media Guidelines

As an institution, Grand Valley recognizes the value of social media applications and supports their use. Social media is a powerful communications tool that has a significant impact on organizational and professional reputations. Because social media blurs the line between personal voice and institutional voice, Grand Valley has crafted guidelines to help clarify how best to enhance and protect personal and professional reputations when participating in social media.

Grand Valley maintains official pages on various social media platforms. You can find links to those pages at www.gvsu.edu/socialmedia. These pages are maintained for the purpose of reaching people and engaging them with the university and its services.

Although you are encouraged to use social media in your work, please respect university time and resources as you provide or read content. During office hours your first priority as a Grand Valley employee is to execute the business of the university.

Following are some guidelines for using social media at Grand Valley.

General recommendations
Be Respectful

• Be a leader, exercise good judgment, take the high ground
• Converse like a real person and remember the people who are reading your posts are real people
• Audiences who may be reading your posts could include current and prospective students, faculty members, staff members, donors, alumni, legislators, parents, school counselors, the media, or future employers

Be Transparent

• Clearly state your name, title, department, university — don’t be a mole
• Admit mistakes and fix them

Add Value

• Share your knowledge
• Be accurate
• Stay on topic
• Don’t spam

Reconsider Before You Post

• Posts can never be eradicated because of archival systems, forwards, retweets, etc., so think before you post, especially when discussing something potentially sensitive
• Maintain confidentiality

Be Responsive to Feedback

• Continue the conversation flow
• Build community

Link to Grand Valley Webpages
To provide further information that will remain up-to-date, link to Grand Valley webpages. This also increases the search engine optimization of those pages. Follow Information Technology policies and procedures.

Posting on behalf of Grand Valley
Avatars
The use of Grand Valley logos and protected trademarks (i.e., Louie) as avatars on social media sites is reserved for use on official university sites and should not be used by individuals. Photography showcasing a university location in a positive light is acceptable. See identity standards for social media.

Respect copyrights and fair use

• Make sure you attribute when you borrow content
• Note that Grand Valley logos and names are trademarked so use appropriately
  

  The following are registered trademarks:

  GVSU®
  Grand Valley State University®
  Grand Valley State®
  Louie the Laker®

  The following are trademarks:

  GVSU Lakers™
  Grand Valley State University Lakers™
  Grand Valley State Lakers™

  Note:
  The university has additional legal rights in all words, phrases, images, and letters that, when used, give the appearance of a university connection or endorsement including, but not limited to:

  Grand Valley
  GV
  Lakers

Political Statements
Refrain from making them when representing Grand Valley (See 2.2.3 in GVSU’s Administrative Manual)

Define Your Role
Check with your supervisor to be clear about when and how you should post or respond to posts as a Grand Valley employee.

Existing Grand Valley Conduct Policies
Social media users acting on behalf of the university must adhere to all Grand Valley policies and procedures including:

• Acceptable use policy
• Copyright information
• IT security
• FERPA/privacy policies
• Student code

Posting Photographs or Videos
Follow the guidelines below when posting photographs or videos on your social media sites.

• Photos of children should not be posted without written consent from the parents or guardians.
• Photos on social networking sites must be appropriate. As a guideline, they should be photos that could be posted on the university’s official webpage. Examples of photos that should be avoided include but are not limited to photos involving: alcohol, nudity, medical and hospital patients, and graphic scenes.
• Give appropriate photo credits.

Use of Social Media Sites for the Placement of Advertising
Grand Valley’s web policy regarding advertising and sponsors [http://gvsu.edu/s/4c] applies to official social media pages.

Free Expression
Grand Valley encourages freedom of expression and recognizes the value of diverse opinions. However, page administrators have a responsibility to remove comments, images, or other material deemed inflammatory, vulgar, or otherwise inappropriate, especially when they appear to threaten the welfare or safety of the poster or others.

Application and Enforcement
The purpose of these guidelines is to have a set of standards for social media pages and blogs that can be applied equitably across all areas of the university and can assist department leaders, Web managers, and others in planning future Web use. The standards are designed to protect the reputation of the university and the safety of alumni, students, prospective students, and others. If absolutely necessary, the university, through various offices, has the ability to remove content that does not comply.

Confidentiality and Privacy
Beware of the damages to individuals or the university that can result through inappropriate disclosure of personal or confidential information. Possible damages include:

• Suit for defamation
• Copyright, patent, or trademark infringement claims
• Privacy or human rights complaint
• Workplace grievance under a collective agreement or unfair labor practice complaint
• Criminal charges with respect to obscene or hate materials
• Damage to the university’s reputation and business interests

Personal site guidelines
Be Transparent
Feel free to identify yourself as a Grand Valley faculty or staff member, but be clear that your views shared on your personal site are yours and are not necessarily shared by the university.

Liability
You are legally liable for what you post, no matter if it is your own site or that of others. Possible liabilities include:

• Copyright infringement
• Breach of confidentiality
• Defamation
• Libel
• Obscenity

Grand Valley Logos
Do not use any Grand Valley logos or registered trademarks on your personal sites for any reason and especially not to promote any products, causes, or political parties or candidates

Protect Yourself
Be careful not to reveal information that could put you at risk for identity theft (Protecting Reputations Online in Plain English)

Please call Institutional Marketing if you have questions (616) 331-2525

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In the spirit of good social media practice, we would like to acknowledge that we especially referenced these three sites while compiling these guidelines: http://brandresources.depaul.edu/vendor_guidelines/g_socialmedia.aspx
http://webcomm.fiu.edu/2009/05/social-media-guidelines/
http://mashable.com/2009/06/02/social-media-policy-musts/