Social Media Guidelines
Purpose
This document outlines the publication policy for Hudson County Community College’s pages on social media which include Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0. These all are online social utilities that allow individuals, or groups of individuals, to create a place for a group of people to come together online to post information, news and events. Hudson County Community College’s social media presence is intended to provide the College community with a venue to share thoughts, ideas, and experiences through discussions, postings, photos, and videos. Publication guidelines will be similar to any other media.
The College’s pages will provide students and other constituents with up-to-date College information and the opportunity to communicate with page administrators and other page users. This policy is intended to outline acceptable use guidelines in order to ensure the most effective use of the pages.
This policy addresses the College’s official presence on social media sites. In general, individual faculty or student pages are not included in this policy; however, if an employee or student group at the College creates a page that could be affiliated with the College, the Office of Communications should be notified. The College does not take any responsibility for pages developed by others.
Contributors to the Hudson County Community College pages will follow the generally established employee and student guidelines. Oversight of all Hudson County Community College-affiliated pages is the responsibility of the Office of Communications, who will periodically review pages to ensure that College policies are followed and that the pages are being produced in accordance with the best interests of the College.
Because the technology that drives Web communication changes rapidly, this policy
may be adjusted to reflect issues that may arise in the management and implementation
of the page or for any other reason that supports the College’s priorities for the
page.
Social Media Guidelines
Individual departments wishing to develop a social media presence should contact the Office of Communications before developing any pages and/or accounts.
Contacting the Office of Communications beforehand can ensure that proper steps are taken when developing the page. Once the departmental pages are set up, that department is responsible for content development (see Responsible Parties).
The Office of Communications is the primary administrator for the College’s main pages on any social media site. Those who wish to contribute information or make suggestions for the College’s pages should contact the Director of Communications at (201) 360-4061 or email jchristopherFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE.
Student organizations are encouraged to develop a social media presence. When associated with the College, these pages should adhere to College policies. Developing “links” with the official College pages and other student group pages is encouraged!
All content must relate directly to College business, programs, and/or services. Content placed by administrators may not promote individual opinions or causes which are not directly related to College purposes.
Content should be short and written in active voice. Remember to consider the audience; the style and tone of content should be direct and student-oriented.
Uploaded photos and videos must relate directly to the College and/or student life and should not be used as a promotional tool for programs, products, or services outside the College.
All photos and videos must adhere to existing College policies.
The page should be maintained and as up-to-date as possible. In general, the more frequently the content is updated, the more users will access the page.
The term “Fan” refers to a member of Facebook that decides to “become a fan” of a particular page. This means that the person is a recognized fan on the page, is able to interact on the page, and receives updates sent out about events.
Fans of the page cannot be censored by administrators, and are only censored by the terms and conditions of Facebook. Facebook does establish many guidelines in regards to language, posting pictures and videos, and various other topics. Be sure to read the guidelines carefully and report fans who violate any terms or conditions.
Existing policies governing student and employee behavior apply to the College’s Facebook page. The College takes no responsibility for content developed by non-employees.
Because the Hudson County Community College pages on social media sites are interactive tools, administrators should monitor pages closely and frequently to supervise user conduct. Remember Social Media is 24/7.
Any questionable conduct should be reported to the Office of Communications.
Hudson County Community College has created several accounts on social networking sites to engage with all current and new community members while encouraging a dynamic conversation about news, events, and topics of interest to the College community. In doing so, HCCC respects First Amendment rights and embraces free speech values. Our goal is to encourage free speech on College’s related social networking site(s), as well as to promote community values and ideals.
For these reasons, the contents of the College’s Wall, Discussion Board and other areas available for posts are a combination of content submitted by individual administrators of the College’s page(s) and individual members (HCCC students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members). Content submitted by individuals does not in any way reflect the opinions or policies of the College.
Hudson County Community College reserves the right to block or remove the content
of any post that violates campus policies, including but not limited to harassing,
threatening, or profane language aimed at creating a hostile or intimidating environment.
Content may be removed at any time without prior notice for any reason deemed to be
in the College’s best interest.
Social Media Posting Policies
Any comment or post deemed inappropriate by the College’s page administrators due to harassing or threatening language, slander or profanity will be removed from the wall without prior notice. Hudson County Community College reserves the right to block posts for those who violate this policy.
If a topic or post generates more than 100 responses, the College reserves the right to select a few representative posts to remain on the Wall or Discussion Board and place the rest in a discussion group.
Abusive content should be reported according to the Social Media site procedures. For example, Facebook encourages all users to utilize the “Report” links when they find abusive content. In most cases, you will find a “Report” link below the content item. Selecting this link takes you to a form where you can specify the type of abuse and make a detailed report. Facebook investigates these reports and makes a determination as to whether or not the content should stay up. All abuse reports on Facebook are confidential. Consult the Hudson County Community College Student Handbook to report violations of the Student Code of Conduct.
If you have a concern about content posted by the administrators of Hudson County Community College’s social network accounts, please contact the Director of Communications at (201) 360-4061 or jchristopherFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE.
Contact Information
Office of Communications162 Sip Avenue - 2nd Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07306(201) 360-4060
communicationsFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE