Social Media Guidelines and Policies

How to Use Social Media Responsibly

General Guidelines and Policies

Social Media is a powerful tool for sharing information. Remember that your intended audience is always larger than you have planned. Social media content can be shared, retweeted, and reposted. Remember that any content posted on social media is public and may be accessible for a long time.  Any communication on behalf of AUBG should be aligned with the university’s mission, vision, and values.

Policies and guidelines for both official and personal social media channels for all students, faculty employees, and administrative employees:

  1. Follow the terms of use of the social media channel and best practices.
  2. Be civil, honest, ethical, accurate, respectful, and responsive.
  3. Be an ambassador for copyrights proper use. Both institutional and personal intellectual property must be respected.
  4. Protect the image of the university.
  5. Follow all internal policies for data protection.
  6. You may not disparage, ridicule, or otherwise discredit AUBG or any of its representatives.
  7. You may not share confidential information related to AUBG and its community members in a way that compromises the security of our people, property, or information.
  8. You are not allowed to post or share any confidential AUBG information or other sensitive information about AUBG without the explicit written permission of the AUBG
  9. Leadership.
  10. Do not post discriminatory communication based on gender, religion, race, or other status.
  11. AUBG logo and/or images may not be used on your personal profiles.

AUBG on Social Media

Social media channels enable AUBG to reach out to its target groups and communicate relevant information in an engaging and coherent manner. This is the fastest way to share AUBG key messages and marketing content with prospective students, teachers, agents, partners, alumni, students, faculty, donors and supporters, and the general public.

AUBG is presented on 6 social media platforms and 1 video-sharing site:

 

AUBG Official Social Media Channels Management

If you manage one of the university’s official social media channels you should have access to those channels while on duty. You must have two-factor authentication where this is possible in order to prevent accounts from hacking.

Academic or administrative departments that would like to start a social media page should contact the Office of Communications and Marketing and discuss the need for it and the approach to follow.

If you already manage an AUBG social media page you need to:

  • Remember that you and the accounts you manage represent AUBG. Be thoughtful when posting, commenting, and engaging on social media;
  • Keep in mind that the accounts that you manage are owned by a full-time university employee/faculty. Student assistants and interns do a great job creating content, but
  • still, they cannot be the owner of the accounts;
  • Follow the AUBG branding guidelines;
  • Create a content calendar and plan your posts accordingly;
  • Keep your page alive and post regularly (at least 2-3 times a week);
  • Moderate the comments under your post by using professional and accurate language. Don’t delete comments unless they expose private data of others, contain commercial solicitations, are factually erroneous/libelous, are off-topic, are threatening or abusive, or are obscene.
  • Always answer the messages sent in the respective platform. If a question is not in your area of responsibility please refer to the respective office.

On behalf of AUBG you may:

  • Share events only related to AUBG or events that could benefit our constituencies;
  • Share articles only related to topics related to different areas that can benefit our constituencies, university life, or AUBG;
  • Post in an informal tone that resembles that of our prospective students but use of slang should be limited.

You cannot use these channels:

  • For personal benefits or profit;
  • For benefit or profit of another individual;
  • To share confidential information related to AUBG and its community members in a way that compromises the security of our people, property, or information.

When representing AUBG on Social media you are not allowed to:

  • Post or share any AUBG confidential information or other sensitive information about AUBG without the explicit written permission of the AUBG Leadership;
  • Post information related to religion, ethnicity or politics;
  • Write/share discriminatory posts based on gender, religion, race, etc.;
  • Do bad-mouthing of competitor universities;
  • Post motivational posters and quotes that are not related to AUBG and do not correspond to our values.

Social Media and AUBG Imagery and Logo

Do not use University logos or trademarks without permission. Any use of AUBG logos, trademarks, or other images must have prior approval. Do not use official logos, trademarks, or any other University images or iconography on personal social media sites. Do not use AUBG’s name to promote a product, cause, political party, or candidate.

AUBG Design Guidelines:

Questions should be directed to the AUBG marketing team. The unauthorized use of these trademarks is prohibited and is subject to applicable laws and may incur penalties. Take a look at the AUBG Branding page.

Social Media and AUBG Employees

Every employee has the right to manage personal social media accounts on different social media platforms according to the common rules and terms of use. Employees are not allowed to post or share any confidential information related to AUBG and its community members in a way that compromises the security of our people, property, or information. Employees who share confidential information do so at the risk of disciplinary actions. Employees need to know and adhere to the University’s Policies and Procedures when using social media in reference to the University.

Employees should be aware of liability. You are legally liable for what you post on your own site and on the sites of others.

Employees should be aware that the University may observe content and information made available by employees through social media. Employees should use their best judgment in posting material that is neither inappropriate nor harmful to the University, its students, faculty, employees, alumni or partners.

AUBG related social media accounts must be created only with the cooperation of the marketing team if deemed necessary.

Social Media in Class

Instructors and professors who would like to use social media for class and academic purposes are strongly advised to consider student records and their own privacy when using them for educational purposes. If they decide to do so it is strongly recommended to use closed groups and not to create separate pages and accounts.

Social Media and AUBG Departments

AUBG departments are strongly advised not to create SM accounts and pages related to their department. If they need to use SM as a communication channel it is recommended to create closed groups after consultation and approval of the marketing team.

Social Media and Student Clubs

Student clubs and organizations can use social media channels for promotional and communication purposes. When using the name of AUBG you are becoming an AUBG ambassador and should uphold the university’s image. Students should be aware that they represent AUBG when publishing content and/or responding to comments. Make sure that you are not posting confidential information about the university or any member of its community.

Responsibilities of Students in Personal Online/Social Media Presence

You should be aware that other people/organizations including but not limited to news media, employers, and institutions have access to your personal information posted on your profile. Misbehavior and inappropriate content might cause harm to you as a person and to the university’s image and could have an impact on your future development as well as the future development of your fellow students.

Misuse of Social Media

AUBG has the right to report and request the removal of materials both from official and personal accounts if it harms the university’s image and puts at risk its reputation or the reputation of one of its members. AUBG community members who do not follow those policies and guidelines may be subject to legal or disciplinary actions.