Social media guidance note

1. Introduction

Social media is a valuable tool for helping us engage with the wider world. Audiences on social media are broad, and may include prospective students and staff, current students and staff, alumni, public figures and bodies of relevance to Higher Education. While there are many benefits to using social media, these channels are a fast-moving part of the communications landscape, and can also have the potential to cause reputational damage to the University if not used effectively.

2. Purpose of guidance

This page gives guidance on how to use social media effectively, and minimise negative reputational impact to the University. It outlines best practice, as well as the governance around social media for the institution to ensure that individually and as an organisation, we make best use of these channels in our communications.

3. Review

This guidance will be reviewed annually or more frequently as required.

4. Who does this apply to?

This guidance relates to any employee who uses social media in their role. Guidance on publishing and engaging on social media extends to personal channels as it is important to understand how personal posts can negatively impact the University.

Social media refers to digital media apps and websites used for communicating with audiences, including, but not limited to:

• Facebook
• Twitter/X
• Linkedin
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Weibo
• Douyin
• WhatsApp

If using a University social media account, you must:

• Act in the University’s best interests at all times. If unsure of how to respond to something, you should consult with your line manager or the University’s Corporate Communications team.
• Do not post anything that could be deemed offensive, including discrimination, bullying or harassment of any kind.
• Do not reveal confidential information about the University, any member of staff, students, or alumni, or partner organisations.
• Adhere to the University’s tone of voice and branding guidelines, available at dundee.ac.uk/brand

If using social media in a personal context (i.e. your own personal account) you should:

• Be mindful that people may trace your name back to your role at the University, particularly if you mention your role on any of your channels or use your real name on your accounts. The lines between personal and professional opinion can be blurry, so be mindful of posting, liking, or sharing anything that you wouldn’t want brought to the attention of the University.
• Ensure that you are clear you’re not representing the views of the University when interacting in a personal capacity. Add a disclaimer to profile biographies like “Own views”
• Think carefully about expressing opinions relating to work or colleagues – if you are dissatisfied with anything relating to work, you should follow appropriate policies to raise this along official lines.
• Be clear that any conduct on social media that brings the University into disrepute could lead to disciplinary action.

5. Posting content

Content you post from a University account should not bring the University into disrepute or jeopardise our interests. These are examples of content that it would be unacceptable to publish:

• Confidential information – this could include, but is not limited to, unpublished research, data or funding bids; personal data linked to staff, students, graduates or other individuals or groups we hold personal data for; official material that has not been shared via main University communications channels; details of legal proceedings; details of commercialisation activity. This also extends to citing colleagues, students, clients, partners, or customers without their express consent.
• Copyrighted content – this could include, but is not limited to, content owned by an individual or third party not associated with the University or content not in the public domain. Any intellectual property, organisational logos and trademarks are not to be used without permission from Corporate Communications, External Relations.
• Content that contravenes other policy or best practice – for example, content that could be construed as bullying, racist, homophobic, transphobic, or bring the University, groups, or individuals associated with the University, into disrepute. Under no circumstances should offensive comments be made about anyone through social media. This may amount to cyber-bullying and be deemed a disciplinary offence. Similarly, you should ensure the content you post is accessible and suitable for the platform or audience intended to interact with.
• Personal opinions or agendas – if you are posting from a University-associated account, you should remain impartial unless the University has a clear position on a matter, and you should always act with the University’s best interests in mind.

6. Setting up a University social media account

The Corporate Communications team in External Relations sets up University social media accounts. Do not set up an account for any part of the organisation, for any reason, without the permission of Corporate Communications.

6.1 There are already a large number of University social media accounts. It is likely that if you’re considering a new account, there will already be an account that fits your needs or goals, so you may be advised to share your content on a pre-existing channel. Here are some reasons why we tend to avoid setting up new accounts:

• Social media is a fast changing landscape – we used to say what worked last year might not work this year, but we are now seeing things change rapidly over weeks and months as channels develop new features. Starting a new channel in such uncertainty is not always best use of time and resource.
• The more channels we have, the more we compete in our audience’s feeds – social media is a highly saturated landscape and our channels are already competing with other University, HE, and non-HE channels. Adding more University channels into the mix might not best serve our wider strategic purposes, let alone best practice on a smaller scale.
• Associated governance and risk – each new channel requires passwords, training, an action plan if someone responsible for the channel leaves the organisation or is on extended leave. There is also additional risk for channel managers posting accidentally or losing/disclosing passwords outwith approved user groups.
• Poorly defined audience need or alignment with strategic goals – as social media is audience-led, we need to make sure that target audiences want to engage with us in the social media sphere. To that end, we require good evidence that a new channel will meet an audience need. Similarly, we need to ensure that social media and the associated workloads are prioritised in the business area making the request.
• Longevity and contingency planning – we need to make sure a channel has long-term plans and maximises ROI as well as ensuring plans for when/if key stakeholders leave their roles/the organisation.
• Effort, timescales and ROI – a channel will never be an overnight success story. Growing an audience, building content plans, scheduling, reviewing, and analysing all take time and patience. If you’re looking for a quick and effective result, an existing channel is likely to be your best tactic. Success could take months or even years of consistent work to achieve, and remember this is likely to be work on top of your or someone else’s day job.

6.2 If you have evidence of audience need, a clear plan for how social media and associated content fits into your business objectives as well as having individual(s) in your team who can take on social media responsibilities on top of their regular roles, these are the steps to follow to be considered for a social media channel.

1. Reach out to the Corporate Communications team via [email protected] with your initial request. You should include:
   • Audience
   • Audience need
   • Preferred channel
   • Who in your team will be responsible for social media and what their day-to-day roles are
   • How a social media channel fits into your wider business priorities
2. At this point, there may be an appropriate channel or solution identified by the Corporate Communications team. They will share this with you and give next steps on how to proceed.
3. If there is no suitable existing channel to use, and there is a clear audience need that aligns with wider business goals, you will then be sent a copy of the Social Media Plan template which you should complete. All new channels are expected to have a copy of this document associated with them – for both set-up and ongoing development of channels.
4. Once the completed plan has been sent back to Corporate Communications, it will be reviewed by a team including, but not limited to, the University’s Senior Social Media Officer, Head of Corporate Communications, and Director of Communications and Public Affairs.
5. If a channel is deemed suitable for creation, the Corporate Communications team will set up the channel. Timescales for this are to be agreed, but it should be noted that this is a multi-step process. If it is not deemed suitable for a channel to be created, the reasons why will be clearly communicated to the person(s) requesting the channel.
6. Once the channel has been secured, all members of the team operating the channel will be required to undergo the University’s official Social Media Training session run through Talent and Development.
7. Corporate Communications will then onboard the channel’s team.

7. Ongoing management

If you are accepted to run a social media channel as part of the University’s digital estate, you must:

• Commit to regular checking, posting, and commenting on the channels you look after
• Not change any of the following unless given permission to:
  • Profile picture
  • Header picture
  • Biography
  • Date of birth/date of founding – changing this can lead to accounts being permanently locked
  • Password
  • Associated email address
  • Handle name
• Raise any issues to Corporate Communications (via [email protected] or via Social Media Managers MS Team) as soon as possible.
• Commit to regular upskilling and following directions shared directly or via the Social Media Managers Teams channel.

8. Other

8.1 Monitoring. The University does not monitor staff and student social media accounts directly; however, the University does undertake social listening and monitors mentions of the University and other aligned topics so that it can respond directly if required. Posts or comments from staff or students may therefore appear as part of this ongoing monitoring. The University also uses platform features like Twitter lists to help with resharing relevant content to or from specific audiences.

8.2 Data Protection and Freedom of Information. The General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 applies to personal data posted to social media, whether public or private accounts. Individuals must ensure all posts and comments comply with GDPR law and the Unviersity’s Data Protection Policy.

8.3 Freedom of Information Act 2000. This may apply to posts and content uploaded to official University channels. Therefore, if a freedom of information request is received by the University, the content posted may be disclosed.

8.4 Highlighting a concern. Any staff or student may raise a concern to the Corporate Communications team ([email protected]) if they believe a breach of this policy has occurred. This will be considered by the Corporate Communications team and escalated where appropriate.

8.5 Disciplinary action. Bringing the University into disrepute via actions on Social Media may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal for staff, or withdrawal/termination of studies for students. Any member of staff or student suspected of breaching their Terms of Employment in this manner will be required to cooperate with any subsequent investigation.

8.6. Retiral/sunsetting/closing of accounts. The Corporate Communications team has the right to remove social media accounts from its digital estate if these are considered to be outdated or redundant, or pose a risk to the reputation, safety or security of the University as a whole or the individuals connected to it.