10.6 - Social Media

Policy 10.6 - Social Media

BLACK HILLS STATE UNIVERSITY

Policy and Procedure Manual

SUBJECT: Social Media

NUMBER: 10:6

Office: University Marketing & Communications

Source: SDBOR Policy 7:1

Purpose

The purpose of this policy and procedure is to establish guidelines for acceptable use of social media at BHSU. These policies and guidelines apply to all BHSU employees, students, or affiliates, including but not limited to independent contractors, consultants, or volunteers charged with managing an Official BHSU Social Media Platform. These policies and guidelines are not intended to govern or restrict personal presence on the web, nor are these guidelines intended to restrict employee rights to engage in concerted, protected activity related to the terms and conditions of their employment.

Definitions

  1. BHSU Student Organization Social Media Platforms: Social media channels established and run by official BHSU student organization groups.
  2. Main Institutional Pages: Official BHSU Social Media Platforms managed exclusively by the Office of Marketing and Communications that represent the University as a whole.
  3. Official BHSU Social Media Platforms: University managed or approved Social Media online communities, used to inform users of University related news, events, emergencies and other important information, as well as foster University related discussion and sense of community among users. This definition does not include social media channels run by BHSU Student Organizations.
  4. Social Media Sites: Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or participate in social networking. Includes but is not limited to Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok.

Policy

  1. Official BHSU Social Media Platforms
    1. Must abide by all applicable BHSU and SDBOR policies.
    2. Must be approved and registered with the Office of Marketing and Communications using the Social Media Registration Form. Requests must be made by a BHSU staff or faculty member. Registered and approved Official BHSU Social Media Platforms will be linked on our Official Social Channels page on the BHSU website.
    3. Must have a minimum of one BHSU faculty or staff member as an administrator at all times. BHSU employees who serve as administrators are charged with managing and monitoring content on their official BHSU accounts regularly and are responsible for removing any content that may violate University policies.
    4. Must provide administrative access to the Office of Marketing and Communications when requested.
    5. Must work with the Office of Marketing and Communications on the profile images, color palette, and naming conventions.
    6. Content posted to Official BHSU Social Media Platforms must:
      1. Be accurate, concise, institutionally oriented, sensitive to all audiences, and respectful to the University, its employees, students, and the community.
      2. Adhere to established University and SDBOR policies relating to electronic communication for both students and employees and follow BHSU Social Media Best Practices.
  2. The Office of Marketing and Communications will make the final decision regarding requests from other departments to use the Main Institutional Pages for official BHSU communication.
  3. The following is prohibited on Official BHSU Social Media Platforms and while the Office of Marketing and Communications does not consistently monitor all of these sites, they reserve the right to remove from Official BHSU Social Media Platforms without notice, content, comments, and posts that are off-topic; represent advertisements or spam; constitute or encourage illegal activity; create a security risk; infringe upon someone’s rights; contain obscenities; direct and target physical threats; or that reasonably appear to violate state or federal law, or University or SDBOR policies.
  4. The Office of Marketing and Communications, in consultation with the administration and other related university offices, will resolve any conflicts or concerns regarding social media.
  5. Official student clubs and organizations (i.e., official student groups recognized by the Student Engagement and Leadership Center) are permitted to have a presence on social media sites with the approval of the club’s advisor.
    1. BHSU Student Organization Social Media Platforms must follow all applicable University and SDBOR policies, and the guidelines outlined in the BHSU Social Media Best Practices.
    2. Student Organizations must register their official social media accounts using the Student Organization Social Media Registration form. Registered social media channels of student organizations will be linked on the Student Organization page of the BHSU website.
    3. Student Organizations must ensure that their faculty/staff advisor has administrative access to all organization social channels.
  6. The Office of Marketing and Communications will be responsible for the deleting or deactivation of any obsolete Official BHSU Social Media Platforms. No other departments shall close their Official BHSU Social Media Platforms without the express permission of the Office of Marketing and Communications.
  7. The use of the social channel TikTok is strictly prohibited for use in all University communication.
  8. All Social Media Sites
    1. Users may not post confidential information regarding BHSU, its students, employees or affiliates that is derived from university records. Employees must follow all applicable federal requirements (FERPA) as well as other laws, regulations, and policies.
    2. All social media use, including use of personal accounts, is subject to all applicable University and SDBOR policies and procedures, including but not limited to SDBOR Policy 7.1 as well as federal and state law.
    3. The University shall not be responsible for comments or posts made by University employees through the use of personal social media accounts. Unofficial comments and posts are not statements of the University and do not necessarily represent the University’s opinions or policies. University employees are responsible for ensuring that their audience understands when they are speaking as private citizens and not in their professional roles as University employees in accordance with SDBOR policies and University policies.

Procedures

  1. The BHSU Social Media Best Practices document can be found at BHSU.edu/SocialMediaGuidelines.
  2. Concerns of abuse or inappropriate content on Official BHSU Social Media Platforms should be reported to the Office of Marketing and Communications by emailing Marketing@BHSU.edu.
  3. An Official BHSU Social Media Platform account may be registered by completing the “Social Media Registration Form” at BHSU.edu/SocialMediaRegistration.
  4. BHSU student organizations can register their official account by completing the form found at BHSU.edu/StudentOrgSocialMedia.
  5. All administrators of Official BHSU Social Media Platforms will report any changes to page administrator(s) to the Office of Marketing and Communications so they may update their files.
  6. If the Office of Marketing and Communications needs administrative access to an Official BHSU Social Media Platform, they will email the administrator(s) with instructions on how to provide access.
  7. A request to close Official BHSU Social Media Platform account(s) must be made by emailing Marketing@BHSU.edu.  The Office of Marketing and Communications will work with the requesting department to appropriately archive posts and deactivate the site(s).

Responsible Administrator

The Senior Director of Marketing and Communications is responsible for the annual review of this policy and its procedures. The University President is responsible for approval of this policy.

Source and Revision History

Adopted by President on 2024.06.03