Background[]
Social media policies in various settings are different.
Details[]
Example from one school[]
: Source: Director of Marketing and Communications
Below is some information from the employee handbook regarding social media accounts. I counsel all of my direct reports to not post any school-related matter on their personal social media accounts as the personal risks associated with doing so if there were to be an instance of noncompliance with the employee handbook are high. Instead, I strongly recommend that anyone who has school-related news they would like to share on social media email it directly to marketingteam -at- domain and our crew would be happy to vet and post the content to official school accounts in a timely manner. In addition to providing a layer of vetting and personal protection, this approach also allows the message to reach a broader audience as we have a combined following of over 5,000 people across our accounts. I hope this helps.
Social Networking (edited slightly)[]
As an organization with a mission to educate, and as a leader in educational technology, The School’s standards for appropriate online communication are very high. Everything that we write or post online leaves a public and permanent record that potentially can be seen by students, their families and other members of the School’s extended community. This is particularly true with social networking and media websites.
While the School respects the right of employees to use social media and networking websites, as well as personal websites and blogs, it is imperative that employees’ personal use of these websites does not damage the School’s reputation, its employees, its students or their families.
Employees must exercise extreme care in setting appropriate boundaries between their personal and public online behavior. They must understand that what is private online often has the possibility of becoming public, even without their knowledge or consent and that it is nearly impossible to delete information from the internet. The School strongly encourages all employees to carefully review the privacy settings of all social media accounts that they use, and exercise care and good judgment when posting content and information on any social media platform.
When using social media, an employee may only have current students as “friends” or “followers” for academic purposes. If an employee has a community that extends to parents, guardians, alumnae or other members of the community, s/he must exercise good judgment about any content that is shared online.
Additionally, employees must adhere to the following guidelines, which are consistent with the School’s workplace standards on harassment, student relationships, conduct, professional communication and confidentiality:
Employees may not make statements that violate any of the School’s policies, including its policies concerning discrimination or harassment.
Employees must uphold the School’s value of respect for the individual and avoid making defamatory statements about the School, its employees, its students or their families.
Employees may not disclose any confidential information of the School or confidential information obtained during the course of his or her employment, about any individuals or organizations, including students and/or their families. Employees must follow the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines. Personally identifiable information, such as addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, social security numbers and email addresses may not be uploaded, shared, transmitted or posted.
Do not post or share images of individuals without their consent. You must reference the list of students with publicity restriction under the faculty or staff section to determine you have permission to post or share.
Do not post or share any images, videos, text or other materials which you do not own or have written permission to share or distribute. Such actions may constitute infringement of third party intellectual property rights.
If the School believes that an employee’s activity on social media, blogs or personal websites may violate the School’s policies, the School may request that the employee cease such activity. Depending on the severity of the incident, the employee may be subject to disciplinary action.