Procedure for Social Media

Administrative Procedure 3.903

Purpose 

This procedure defines the rules and guidelines for the use of official Elgin Community College social media sites to ensure that college-sponsored social media is both legal and in compliance with College policies and procedures. 

In addition, this procedure provides a framework for requesting and/or creating a social media page and/or account that represents a department or program at ECC, as well as to outline appropriate and responsible use of social media channels while utilizing College equipment and College likeness, i.e., College logo, College name. 

Elgin Community College acknowledges that social media sites are suitable venues to communicate and encourage engaging conversation about college events, services, news, accolades, programs, organizations and people. The ECC Marketing and Communications Department is responsible for overseeing and maintaining the College’s official social media accounts, as well as monitoring mentions of Elgin Community College and its entities on various online websites, including social media. Official social media sites are those approved by the Marketing and Communications Department and administered by authorized College staff. In addition, the Marketing and Communications Department provides guidance and training to College employees who administrate or use social media as a part of their jobs. 

Definitions of Terms Referenced 

1. Social Media Page/Account: refers to any online or web-based site or social network where users create a profile or page, upload or share content, or interact with other users through video, audio, text or multimedia. Examples include, but are not limited to: Facebook, x (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok. For purposes of this policy, the terms social media page/account also will refer to blogs or blogging sites. 
2. Copyright: A form of intellectual property law protecting original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. A copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems or methods of operation, but does protect the way these objects may be expressed. 

Guidelines for Use of Official Social Media Accounts 

1. Only public information may be posted on official Elgin Community College social media sites. Official College social media sites must not contain sensitive personal information or proprietary information about ECC, its students, employees, or alumni and should adhere to all applicable College privacy and confidentiality policies, as well as state and federal privacy laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) etc. Examples of confidential information include, but are not limited to: student/employee ID numbers, home addresses, social security numbers, financial information, or contact information. This includes information obtained through the course of one’s employment that would not be available to the general public or available for release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 
2. All official College social media sites must respect federal copyright law and intellectual property rights. Permission to use or reproduce copyrighted works is required unless the intended use is clearly permitted under the “fair use” exemption. These materials include music, art, literary works, copyrighted photographs or texts, video clips, audiovisual works, and audio recordings. For questions about fair use or copyright, see Copyright Administrative Procedure 3.742 or call the ECC Library at 847-214-7595. 
3. The College is committed to fostering an educational environment that allows for freedoms of speech and expression in accordance with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Activities or postings on an Official College social media site that are unlawful, defamatory, or obscene will not be tolerated. The College reserves the right to remove any such posting without notice. The College also reserves the right to refer social media activity to the applicable social media platform and/or appropriate authorities for appropriate action. Examples of activities that are prohibited: 
   1. Posting, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, libelous, hateful or racially or sexually offensive or unlawful content. 
   2. Posting content or material that would jeopardize another individual’s safety, privacy, security or compromise their privacy. 
   3. Posting content that infringes on any third-party rights, including intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights. 
4. Primary administrative rights for official College social media sites will be assigned only to College employees. Official College sites will have a minimum of two-page administrators. Should one-page administrator be unavailable, the second assigned page administrator will manage the site. At least one of the two-page administrators should be a permanent College employee. 
5. When using social media as a part of their official duties, and/or when presenting oneself in social media settings as a College representative, employees must comply with applicable College policies governing employee behavior and acceptable use of electronic and information resources. 
6. All College social media sites must comply with any approved applicable College branding standards. The social media icon and/or profile image can be a photograph related to the administrator’s entity, an approved logo for that entity, or another appropriately branded image. The College logo, in its various forms, is a registered servicemark protected by the State of Illinois. Therefore, the College logo cannot be used without permission. Use of the College logo on personal social media sites is strictly prohibited. A request to use the logo must be made in writing and sent to marketing@elgin.edu 

Procedure for Requesting and/or Creating a Social Media Page/Account 

1. Anyone interested in creating a social media account for a department, Department, or student club/organization at Elgin Community College, is required to arrange a meeting with the Chief Marketing, Communications and Government Relations Officer or designee to discuss goals and strategy, as well as to review guidelines and best practices. 
   1. During the meeting, the Marketing and Communications Department will review your goals to determine if a social media account is the best solution to fit your needs, or if the content is more appropriate for one of the College’s official social media accounts or other communication channels. The Marketing and Communications Department will also review with you the responsibilities of maintaining a social media account. 
   2. If the department is approved to move forward with a social media account, two employees from the Department must be designated as administrators for the account with access to the username/password. The names of your account administrators need to be provided to the Marketing and Communications Department for the College’s master list of social media users. Account administrators also will be required to attend a social media guidelines review session. 
   3. Student page administrators may be approved, however, all student postings must abide by the Student Life social media guidelines. 
2. If a social media account(s) already exists for a department office, or College-approved committee, or student club/organization, a mandatory meeting with the Marketing and Communications Department is required to discuss goals and strategy, as well as to review best practices and ensure your account complies with the best practices outlined below. Additionally, two employees from the respective department must be designated as administrators for the account with access to the username/password. The names of the account administrators need to be provided to the Marketing and Communications Department for the College’s master list of social media users. Account administrators also will be required to attend a social media guidelines review session. 
3. If a social media page/account is not an official ECC sanctioned page/account, but references ECC or an affiliation with ECC through an activity, program or interest, users will need to post a disclaimer on their page/account. (Examples: ECC employee unions or alumni groups.) Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are solely those of the page administrator(s). Elgin Community College expressly disclaims responsibility or liability for any data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, images, video, messages, or any other materials whatsoever (“Content”) generated by users and publicly posted on this page. Further, Elgin Community College disclaims responsibility or liability for the content of any target site linked from this page. 

Procedure for Handling an Inactive Social Media Page/Account 

1. If a department or organization's social media page/account has been inactive for more than six (6) months, the Marketing and Communications Department will contact the page/account administrator(s) regarding the status of the page/account. If the page is no longer necessary or the administrators are not posting regularly, the Marketing and Communications Department will consult with the head of the department or office responsible for the page/account to determine whether they would like to continue using the account. If not, the Marketing and Communications Department will work with the service provider to delete the page/account. 

Procedure for Managing Inappropriate Posts or Comments by Other Users 

1. If someone puts an inappropriate or inflammatory post or comment on a College page/account, use discretion in responding and refer to the Best Practices in this procedure, as well as the training provided by the Marketing and Communications Department. Account administrators also can contact the Marketing and Communications Department for assistance in crafting a response.
2. If a post or comment on the College’s page/account threatens violence, please contact Campus Police immediately as well as the Marketing and Communications Department to discuss the appropriate response. 

Best Practices 

Maintain Confidentiality: 

All users are prohibited from posting confidential or proprietary information about ECC or its students, employees, or alumni and should adhere to all applicable College privacy and confidentiality policies, as well as state and federal privacy laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) etc. 

Respect Copyright and Fair Use: 

Copyright and intellectual property rights of others and of the College should be respected. Permission to use or reproduce copyrighted works is required unless the intended use is clearly permitted under the “fair use” exemption. These materials include music, art, literary works, copyrighted photographs or texts, video clips, audiovisual works, and audio recordings. For questions about fair use or copyright, see Copyright Administrative Procedure 3.742 or call the ECC Library at 847-214-7595. 

Respect College Time and Property: 

College computers and time while at work are reserved for College-related business as approved by supervisors and in accordance with Administrative Procedure 7-101 Responsible Use of Information Technology. Social networking not related to College business is limited by procedure 7-101 and is encouraged to be done on personal time using personal computers and not College or other state resources. 

Media Interaction: 

Social media may generate interest from the news media (print, television, radio, online). If a page administrator or poster is contacted in any way by a member of the media about a College-related posting, he/she is required to direct the media contact to the Communications Office at news@elgin.edu and to immediately notify the Communications Office after responding. 

Understand Your Personal Responsibility: 

ECC Staff and faculty are personally responsible for the content they publish on social media sites, blogs, other websites, wikis, forums, or any other form of user-generated content. What you publish online will be publicly accessible for an extended amount of time. Be mindful of what you post and protect your privacy and the privacy of others. 

Maintain Transparency: 

The fine line between personal and professional activities on social media sites is blurred easily. Be conscientious about what you post and how you portray yourself and the College. In posts on College social media sites, be honest about who you are and what you represent (i.e., your affiliation with the College). Keep your personal social media use separate from your professional/College social media use. If you discuss matters relating to the College in personal posts on non-College or personal social media sites, you should be clear that the post is of a personal nature and does not represent the views of Elgin Community College. In this regard, the College encourages a disclaimer such as: “The posts on this site are solely mine and do not constitute or represent the opinion of Elgin Community College.” 

Correct Mistakes: 

If you make a mistake, correct it. Be open and honest; admit you’ve made an error. If you can correct the original post, do so and be clear that you are making a correction. If you need to add an amended post, do so. 

Be Respectful and Professional: 

If you are respectful and professional, even while disagreeing with a person or post, you will achieve greater results. View comments or concepts you disagree with as an opportunity for candid and respectful dialogue. 

Be Involved and Use Etiquette: 

If you participate in social networking sites, follow etiquette and contribute constructive content. Social media sites are not the place for confrontational conversations or spam postings. These types of behaviors are not tolerated and can result in being banned from the sites where you use this behavior. 

Be Mindful; Think Before You Submit Content: 

There is no expectation of privacy on any social networking sites. Search engines can index and display posts, content, remarks, and pages any time after they have been published. There are archiving services that cache sites even if they have been taken down and replaced or updated. If you are having a heated reaction to content, take a moment to compose yourself in a respectful and professional way before contacting the Communications Office at news@elgin.edu for assistance on the best way to respond if a response is required. Post only information, photos, images, and other user-generated content that you are comfortable being completely public and archived by third-party sites or services. 

Accessibility: 

Content on a College social media sites must comply with is accessibility laws and be usable by people with the widest range of capabilities possible. Accessibility requirements apply to the content on the social media tool, not the features of the tool, and may be limited based on the media channel being used. It is the responsibility of the page administrator to ensure social media content is accessible whenever possible. For questions, contact the Marketing and Marketing and Communications Department at news@elgin.edu or 847-214-7769.

This policy was last reviewed on 10/28/2023.