Social media is dramatically changing the way we communicate, both as an institution and as individuals representing the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. As these powerful communication tools can blur the lines between personal and institutional voices, the law school created the following Social Media Policy offering guidelines and best practices to promote the successful use of social media, and to clarify how best to enhance and protect the personal and professional reputations of law school departments and individuals participating in social media activities.
As technology advances, this document will be updated accordingly. For assistance with social media, please contact Marketing & Communications.
Introduction
Social media are defined as media designed to be distributed through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Both in professional and institutional roles, employees need to follow the same behavioral standards online as they would in real life. The same laws, professional expectations, and guidelines for interacting with students, parents, alumni, donors, media, and other law school constituents apply online as in the real world. Employees are responsible for anything they post to social media sites.
Guidelines for all Social Media Sites
If you post information on social media sites in an official law school capacity, the following guidelines should be adhered to, in addition to all policies and best practices listed below:
- Respect Pacific McGeorge time and property.
Law school computers and time on the job are reserved for law school-related business as approved by supervisors and in accordance with the University’s Acceptable Use Policy 3.8.7.
- Identify yourself on personal sites.
If you identify yourself as a Pacific McGeorge faculty or staff member online, unless you have authority to speak on behalf of the law school, it should be clear that the views expressed are not necessarily those of Pacific McGeorge.
- Protect confidential and proprietary information.
Do not post confidential or proprietary information about Pacific McGeorge, students, employees, or alumni. Adhere to all applicable privacy and confidentiality policies. Employees who share confidential information do so at the risk of disciplinary action or termination.
- Protect the institutional voice.
Posts on social media sites should protect Pacific McGeorge’s institutional voice by remaining professional in tone and in good taste. No individual Pacific McGeorge department should construe its social media site as representing the law school as a whole. Consider this when naming pages or accounts, selecting a profile picture or icon, and selecting content to post: names, profile images, and posts should all be clearly linked to the particular department or group rather than to the institution as a whole.
- Link back to mcgeorge.edu.
Whenever possible, link back to the Pacific McGeorge website. Ideally, posts should be very brief, redirecting a visitor to content that resides within the Pacific McGeorge website. When linking to a news article about Pacific McGeorge, where possible, link to a release about the story in the Pacific McGeorge newsroom instead of to an external publication or other media outlet.
- Notify the law school.
Departments or university units that have a social media page or would like to launch one should contact Marketing & Communications to help ensure all institutional social media sites coordinate with other Pacific McGeorge sites and their content. Please complete the social media account application. All institutional pages must have a full-time appointed employee who is identified as being responsible for content. Ideally, this should be a department head and will often be the student services counselor.
- Have a plan.
Before launching an official media presence, Pacific McGeorge departments/groups should consider their messages, audiences, and goals, as well as a staffing strategy for keeping information on social media sites up-to-date (including during vacations). Marketing & Communications can assist and advise you with your social media planning.
This could include a content plan for the types of posts you will make, and frequency. Best practices vary, but typically a volume of four to eight posts per month is sufficient to maintain interest, but avoids overwhelming “fans” or “followers.” - Choose your friends/followers wisely.
Consider carefully who you will “friend” or “follow” in social media to avoid creating the impression that the law school endorses a particular individual, cause, or organization. Plan in advance to what extent you will allow comments from other users on your site (this will depend on the goals you have set for your social media efforts) and how you will respond if users make critical or objectionable posts or comments.
- Don’t use Pacific McGeorge logos for endorsements.
Do not use the Pacific McGeorge logo or any other images or iconography on personal social media sites without appropriate approval. In addition, do not use Pacific McGeorge’s name to promote a product, cause, or political party or candidate. Direct inquiries to Marketing & Communications.
- Photography Usage
Photographs posted on social media sites can easily be reused by visitors. Post images at 72 dpi and approximately 800×600 resolution to protect intellectual property and if possible, apply a watermark identifying it as property of the law school. Contact Marketing & Communications with questions relating to photo usage online. In addition, before posting images of students or others, particularly if they were taken in a classroom setting or include minors, ensure you have permission to share the photos online. If you are posting on behalf of a Pacific McGeorge department, this permission should be in the form of a signed release.
- If you create or received multimedia to post, have it reviewed.
Primarily by Marketing and Communications. Videos, microsites, and other online multimedia follow the same policies and guidelines for approval as other communications products. This will help ensure that content represents the law school accurately and in accordance with institutional branding.
- Respect copyright and fair use.
When posting, be mindful of Pacific McGeorge’s copyright regulations and the intellectual property rights of others. Please direct inquiries to Marketing & Communications.
- Terms of service
Be careful to obey the Terms of Service of any social media platform employed. In the case of campus units or organizations on Facebook, this includes creating “public profiles” of which users can become fans, not personal profiles which users can “friend.” If you have questions about this distinction, contact Marketing & Communications for assistance.
Best Practices
The following best practices for social media conduct will further clarify how best to protect personal and professional reputations when posting and participating in online communities:
- What you post on your personal page could haunt you professionally.
Avoid posting information that could put your job in jeopardy and reflect poorly on the law school. You never know who may be viewing your personal page.
- Be respectful.
Understand that content contributed to a social media site could encourage comments or discussion of opposing ideas. Responses should be considered carefully in light of how they would reflect on the poster and/or the law school and its institutional voice. When in doubt, ask your supervisor for input or contact Marketing & Communications.
- Think twice before posting.
Privacy does not exist in the world of social media. Search engines can turn up posts years after they are created, and comments can be forwarded or copied. If you wouldn’t say it at a conference or to a member of the media, consider whether you should post it online. If you are unsure about posting something or responding to a comment, ask your supervisor for input or contact Marketing & Communications.
- Remember your audience.
Social media is a public forum, and as such, be sure that the content you publish will not alienate, harm or provoke any current or intended audience group – including prospective and current students, current employers and colleagues, and peers.
- Strive for accuracy.
Get the facts straight before posting on social media. Review content for grammatical and spelling errors. This is especially important if posting on behalf of the law school in any capacity.
- Keep controversial topics out of the conversation.
If a topic can easily ignite debate (politics or religion, for example), avoid it, as the post can be misinterpreted as the law school’s stance on an issue. The same advice applies to jokes and sarcasm, which could be misinterpreted as offensive, unprofessional, or as fact.
- Avoid commentary about other schools.
Pacific McGeorge-affiliated social media sites are not an appropriate venue for opinions (positive or negative) about other institutions.
- Monitoring posts/comments.
Because of the transparency needed to build credibility in social media, Pacific McGeorge suggests that posts which are critical but not offensive should generally not be censored. However, comments that are libelous or offensive, such as posts that are racist or obscene, or that consist of a “spam” advertisement should be removed.
- Be cautious.
Exercise caution to avoid “phishing” attempts, which aim to gain control of a personal or institutional social media site by deceiving a user into revealing the account’s user name and password. Monitor your social media sites to ensure you notice quickly if an unauthorized person gains access; the larger your audience, the more tempting your site becomes as a target.
- Privacy is not guaranteed.
For personal social media, use privacy settings to restrict personal information on otherwise public accounts, but be aware of the limited protection this provides. Even “private” messages can be accidentally released through errors or changes in practice on the part of the social media platform provider.
- Measure for results.
To evaluate post activity and interaction with a community, make use of analytics and tracking tools. Facebook has built-in analytics for fan pages. When posting links on any social media site, we recommend using a link tracking service through hootsuite.com. This URL shortening tool ensures that information can be tracked from one source. Hootsuite.com supports social media networks Facebook and Twitter and allows users to create, upload and pre-schedule messages. These tools can help to refine your strategy and better understand your audience’s preferences and behaviors.
- Promotions
Adhere to the promotion policies of the social media platform in question and applicable law.