10:04:02 Social Media Policy
- Purpose
- This policy exists to safeguard, elevate, and protect the reputation of Chattanooga State Community College. The policy aims to create an environment to foster a consistent and unified digital presence across the College and divisions, ensuring online interactions reflect institutional values and maintain the high standard of communication stakeholders expect.
- Additionally, this policy serves as a roadmap to navigate the dynamic digital landscape, helping mitigate potential risks while maximizing the benefits of social media engagement.
- This policy distinguishes between three types of social media accounts associated with Chattanooga State. Each type has different governance, approval, and branding requirements to protect institutional voice while allowing unit-level and student expression:
- Official Accounts
- Professional Accounts
- Student Group or Club Accounts
- This policy defines the rules and procedures for the use of Official and Professional Social Media Accounts to ensure that college-sponsored social media accounts are both legal and in compliance with TBR policies.
- Definitions
- Social media - A digital technology that allows users to interact and network to facilitate the creation, sharing, and exchanging of information, ideas, and multimedia content through virtual communities and networks.
- The College’s Official Social Media Accounts: The College’s official social media accounts created, operated, and managed solely by the Marketing and Communications Department. These accounts represent the official voice of Chattanooga State Community College (i.e., X: @ChattStateCC, Facebook & Instagram: @ChattState).
- Professional Social Media Accounts: Accounts created and managed by academic or administrative divisions, departments, or programs (e.g., ChattState Engineering, Nursing, or Student Affairs). These accounts are not considered official College accounts but must be approved by the Marketing and Communications Department. They are subject to College branding, compliance, and monitoring guidelines.
- Student Group and Club Social Media Accounts: Accounts independently created and operated by student organizations. These accounts are not governed by this policy, except for Section V.A: Student groups may not imply official representation of the College without explicit permission.
- Account managers - Any employee who creates content on behalf of the College on an Official or Professional Social Media Account or serves as an advisor to a Student Group or Club Social Media Account.
- Definitions included in the overarching Marketing and Communications Policy 10.04.00.00 apply.
- Policy/Guideline
- The College’s Official Social Media Account
- Social media posts, including text, images, video, and other content, must follow local, state, and federal laws and other applicable marketing, communication, and branding policies and procedures.
- The College’s official social media accounts representing the College must be approved, authorized, established, and maintained by the Director of Marketing and Communications (DMC) or designee(s). Social media accounts should serve a clear purpose for the College’s mission and goals.
- Access to and/or passwords for Official College social media accounts is limited to designated communications/marketing staff members. As a contingency measure, a minimum of three College Employees, including the DMC, should always have access to all social media accounts.
- The College’s Official social media accounts are the property of the College; thus, account managers must relinquish all rights and access to the accounts upon employment separation for any reason. Usernames and Passwords must not be changed without notifying the DMC.
- Professional Social Media Accounts
- The College documents appropriate procedures and guidelines for academic or administrative divisions, departments, or programs to request Professional Social Media, including requesting account managers in Social Media Procedures.
- Content created for and distributed through all professional social media accounts is the sole property of the College and not the employee managing the account. All audience lists and associated information with the account belong to the College.
- All Official and Professional Social Media Accounts
- Account managers are responsible for ensuring that social media content does not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others as governed by federal and state copyright law, the terms of service of the social media provider, and/or ChattState Policy.
- Account managers should adhere to the policies of the social media platforms in which they participate. It is the duty of the account manager to understand social media policies, including this policy, and stay updated with any policy changes.
- Account managers must be employees of the College or vendors with fully executed contracts with the College as approved by purchasing and the DMC.
- Account managers should monitor accounts for comments if they are permitted. Requests for authorization to hide or delete any material posted to an official social media account in violation of local, state, or federal law or this policy, or to block a user from a site, including comments that expose the private data of others, contain commercial solicitations, are factually erroneous/libelous, are off- topic, are threatening or abusive, or are obscene, should be made through the DMC or their designee, who shall obtain advice from the VPCAPR or DMC or the General Counsel prior to removal of such material.
- Account managers shall not engage in personal activity under the guise of any Official or Professional Social Media Account, including expressing political opinions or engaging in political activities, private commercial transactions, or private business activities.
- Official and Professional Social Media Accounts shall not be used to communicate business transactions, including payment information, educational records protected by FERPA, medical records protected by HIPAA, or any other confidential information.
- Branding
- All Official and Professional social media accounts must comply with any applicable College branding policies and standards as defined in Policy, Branding and Trademarks 10.04.05.
- Personal Social Media Accounts
- Do not imply representation of the College in any unauthorized way when conducting personal activities.
- Employees’ social media accounts may be monitored without notice or consent per TBR Policy 1.08.05.00, IT Acceptable Uses, if these sites are accessed using College property or resources.
- Exemptions and Exceptions
- Account managers may designate contributors to Official and Professional Social Media Accounts on a limited- time basis, such as social media takeovers by students, faculty, staff, and interns/student workers.
- Exemptions and exceptions outlined in the overarching ChattState Policy, Marketing and Communications 10.04.00 apply.
- Student Group and Club Social Media accounts are exempt from this policy with the exception of Section V.A.
Sources
TBR Policy, Marketing and Communications, Social Media 09.01.04.00
Related Policies
TBR Policy, Governance, Organization, and General Policies, IT Acceptable Uses 1.08.05.00
ChattState Policy, Marketing and Communications 10.04.00
ChattState Policy, Marketing and Communications, Branding and Trademarks 10.04.05
Submitted to Policy Review Committee on February 28, 2025
Submitted to Policy Review Board on April 11, 2025
Updates approved by Policy Review Board on May 7, 2025
Approved by Policy Review Board: April 24, 2019
Revision Submitted to Policy Review Board: July 22, 2019
Revision Approved by Policy Review Board: July 31, 2019
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