Social Media Policy

Revision Date: August 2021: Periodic revisions to this policy may be made by University leadership and communicated to the Detroit Mercy community accordingly.

1. Purpose

海角大神 encourages the use of social media to connect with others, including students, employees, alumni, fans and friends. Social media sites are excellent venues to communicate and encourage engaging discussions about University current events, issues, accolades, organizations and people.

2. Policy

This policy describes the rules and procedures for the use of official University social media sites by faculty, staff and students to ensure that university-sponsored social media is both legal and in compliance with University policies. It also provides recommendations on social media behaviors for students, faculty and staff.

  1. Official University Social Media Sites must adhere to state, federal laws and regulations, and University policies. Only public information may be posted on official University social media sites.
  2. Official University social media sites must not contain sensitive personal or confidential information as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Regulations, as applicable. Any sensitive personal information or other confidential information posted on an official University social media site must be removed upon discovery by the site administrator as soon as practically possible.
  3. The University 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. However, the University will not tolerate any activity or posting on an official University social media site that exceeds First Amendment protection such as any unlawful, defamatory, or obscene (as defined by Michigan and federal laws) activity or posting. The University reserves the right to remove any such posting without notice. The University also reserves the right to refer social media activity to the applicable social media platform and/or appropriate authorities for appropriate action.
  4. All official University social media sites must respect intellectual property rights, federal Copyright law and University policies.
  5. Employee Use: When using social media as a part of official duties, and/or when presenting oneself in social media settings as a university representative, employees must comply with applicable University policies governing employee behavior and acceptable use of electronic and information resources.
  6. Official University social media sites will have a minimum of one administrator to ensure that the site is consistently managed. This individual must be a full-time employee of the University.
  7. All content on official University social media sites must make every effort to ensure that information is ADA compliant. Please review and consult with the Office of Marketing & Communications for questions you may have.
  8. It is the responsibility of the official University social media site administrator to ensure social media content is fully accessible. Individuals who require help may contact the Office of Marketing & Communications to receive training and instruction on how to improve the accessibility of their social media site by emailing marcom@udmercy.edu or call 313-993-1254.
  9. All University social media sites must comply with all applicable University branding standards.

3. Definitions

  1. Social Media: A software system or service provided via the Internet used to communicate and share information between people through interactions with video, audio, text or multimedia. Examples include, but are not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, WordPress and other similar services.
  2. Copyright: A set of laws protecting intellectual property rights of authors for original work that include literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. A copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems or methods of operation – only the way these objects may be expressed

4. Procedures

  1. As prescribed in 2.8, please ensure that all social media icons and/or profiles comply with any applicable University branding standards set forth by the Office of Marketing & Communications. 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.

Content for University social media (does not include photo policies)

  1. Administrators of the site, when in need to request authorization to hide or delete any material in violation of this policy, or to block a user from a site, should contact the Office of Marketing & Communications, who will consult with the Office of Legal Services.
  2. Administrators of an official University social media site should not engage in personal activity when using any official University social media site.
  3. Official University social media sites should not be used for the communication of business transactions, including credit card or payment information, educational records protected by FERPA, medical records protected by HIPAA, or any other confidential information.
  4. Social media content on an official University social media site may sometimes include photographs, audio or video. Site administrators are responsible for ensuring that social media content posted on the site is not infringing on the intellectual property rights of others. Intellectual property rights of content shared by the public will be governed by federal copyright law, the terms of service of the social media provider and/or University policies.
  5. Administrators are encouraged to link to source material whenever possible. This activity will reduce the spread of misinformation and drive traffic.
  6. Administrators of University social media sites should adhere to the policies for the social media platforms in which they are participating. These policies are constantly changing, and it is the administrator’s duty to stay up to date.

Photos for University Social Media

  1. If the administrator intends to publish a student photo on the site, in which the student can be recognized, a signed photo release form from the student is required. All forms are housed in a digital file system in the Office of Marketing & Communications.
  2. When posting non-student photos, it is recommended that the administrator obtain permission. This written permission can be obtained from an e-mail or with the photo release form, as referenced in Section 4.3.1.