UHCC Policy 2.211

This policy is intended to ensure that any and all social media interactions on behalf of the University of Hawai‘i Community Colleges (UHCC) represent the community college's best interests and to assist college employees in effective online communication.

This policy shall apply to all community colleges and offices within the University of Hawai'i Community College system, hereinafter called the College.

The policy is designed to help employees leverage the power of social media and provide guidelines and "best practices" when posting material online. Employees and students are subject to the same laws, professional expectations, and guidelines when interacting online as in-person interactions with students, parents, alumni, donors and the media. These guidelines are broad in nature. Social media technology is evolving and no policy or procedure can address all the particular situations and circumstances that may arise.

This Social Media Policy only applies to social media accounts created to represent College groups, departments, programs, entities, etc., and does not apply to private individual accounts.

1. University of Hawai‘i Executive Policy E2.210, Use and Management of Information Technology Resources
2. University of Hawai‘i System Executive Policy E2.213 System and Campus Wide Electronic Channels for Communicating with Students

1. Marketing Office - The Marketing Office is defined as the College's designated administrative office that is responsible for the coordination and implementation of marketing and communications activities.
2. Social Media - Social media is any form of online publication or presence that allows end users to engage in multi-directional conversations in or around the content on the website.
3. Social Media Platform - Social media platform is a type of software or technology that enables users to build, integrate or facilitate community, interaction and user-generated content. These platforms provide users the ability and tools to create and publish their own mini websites or webpages.
4. Social Network - A social network is a website, or network of websites, specifically established to allow end users to communicate directly with each other on topics of mutual interest. These social networks have three (3) defining characteristics:
   
   1. Majority of content is user generated;
   2. High degree of participation/interaction between users; and
   3. Easily integrates with other sites

   By this definition then, social media networks include but are not limited to items such as blogs (e.g., Blogger, WordPress, Typepad), social networking (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn), social bookmarking (Delicious,
   Stumble Upon) news sharing (e.g., Digg, Yahoo!, Buzz) and photo and video sharing sites (e.g., Flickr, Vimio and YouTube).

5. The social media sites that represent the College must:
   1. Abide by UH Executive Policy E2.210, Use and Management of Information Technology Resources. Included in the policy is information on Responsible Use, Confidentiality, Copyright, Private Gain, and Privacy
      of Student Information.
   2. Follow the “Social Media General Guidelines and Procedures” (Attachment 1) for setting up and maintaining the online account.
   3. Submit a “Social Media Brief” (Attachment 2) and be registered with the College Marketing Office.
   4. Have at least one College faculty or staff member as an administrator at all times. College employees who are account administrators are held responsible for managing and monitoring content of their officially
      recognized accounts. Administrators are responsible to remove content that may violate any of the College’s and University's Policies.
   5. Provide administrative access to all sites representing the College to the Marketing Office. An individual, designated by the Marketing Office will be added as an administrator or provided administrative login information.
      This is required for several important reasons: if an employee leaves or relocates to another office, the administration of the site can be maintained. It also provides a back-up administration account manager.
      Content will not be censored; however, it will be monitored to ensure guidelines and policies are followed. This practice also allows the College to communicate efficiently during an emergency.
   6. Work with the Marketing Office on the images, color palette and naming conventions for all online sites.
6. The Marketing Office will designate an individual to serve as its social media coordinator authorized to be added as an administrator or provided administrative login information for all College social media accounts
7. The Marketing Office will make the final decision in any situation regarding the use of social media and ensure the pages are set up properly according to social media sites' policies.
8. The Marketing Office reserves the right to enforce this policy by removing links to third-party web sites and/or recommending the site creator remove or change the site content as needed.
9. The Marketing Office, in consultation with Administration, will resolve any concerns and conflicts regarding social media.
10. For instructional use of social media sites, faculty do not need to use the official presence on various social media sites and can use these tools freely to support teaching and learning activities.
11. Official Student Clubs and Organizations (i.e., chartered student organizations and registered independent organizations as provided in, and in conformity with Section 7-2 and Section 7-3 of the Board of Regents policies) may create an official social media presence in consultation with the respective organization's advisor. These social media sites shall also be registered through the Marketing Office.
    Use of images, pictures/graphics and posted content must clearly relate to the particular group or activity to avoid confusion with institution-moderated sites. Guidelines (Attachment A) and naming conventions delineated in the Social Media Policy and Guidelines must be followed.

Subject Matter Experts

1. Attachment 1 – Social Media Guidelines and Procedures
2. Attachment 2 – Social Media Brief