Policies & Procedures

Policy 1A.13: Social Media

Purpose

Social media are powerful communications tools that have a significant impact on organizational and professional reputations. Because they blur the lines between personal voice and institutional voice, Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College have crafted the following policy to help clarify how best to enhance and protect personal and professional reputations when participating in social media.

Social media are defined as media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Examples include but are not limited to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Both in professional and institutional roles, employees need to follow the same behavioral standards online as they would in real life. The same laws, professional expectations, and guidelines for interacting with students, parents, alumni, donors, media, and other college constituents apply online as in the real world.

This policy is not meant to supersede course management. Minnesota State-provided software (i.e. D2L/Brightspace) is the official course management system for Anoka Tech and Anoka-Ramsey.

Section 1: Policies for all Social Media Sites, Including Personal Sites

• Protect confidential and proprietary information: Do not post confidential or proprietary information about Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College students, employees, or alumni. Employees must still follow the applicable federal requirements such as FERPA and HIPAA, as well as NJCAA regulations. Adhere to all applicable college privacy and confidentiality policies. Employees who share confidential information do so at the risk of disciplinary action or termination.

• Respect copyright and fair use: When posting, be mindful of the copyright and intellectual property rights of others and of the college. For guidance, consult the

Minnesota State Board Policy:http://www.mnscu.edu/board/policy/327.html

Anoka-Ramsey Policy:

Procedure 3H.2/11 Reproduction and Use of Copyrighted Materials

Anoka Technical College:

http://www.anokatech.edu/AboutATC/PoliciesProcedures/Policy34.aspx

• Don't use Anoka Tech or Anoka-Ramsey logos for endorsements: Do not use the Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College logo or any other college images or iconography on personal social media sites. Do not use Anoka Technical College’s and Anoka-Ramsey Community College’s name to promote a product, cause, or political party or candidate.

• Respect college time and property: Refer to Board Policy 5.22 and System Procedure 5.22.1 Acceptable Use of Computers and Information Technology Resources.

• Terms of service: Obey the Terms of Service of any social media platform employed.

Section 2: Institutional Social Media – Defined as Social media accounts associated with college departments, divisions, programs, offices, student clubs/organizations.

If you post on behalf of an official college unit, the following policies must be adhered to in addition to all policies and best practices listed above:

• Notify the college: Departments or college units that have a social media page or would like to start one should contact the college’s Marketing and Public Relations office to ensure all institutional social media sites coordinate with other college sites and their content. All institutional pages must have a full-time appointed employee who is identified as being responsible for content.

• Acknowledge who you are: If you are representing Anoka Technical College or Anoka-Ramsey Community College when posting on a social media platform, acknowledge this.

• Link back to the college: Whenever possible, link back to the Anoka Technical College or Anoka-Ramsey Community College Web site. Ideally, posts should be very brief, redirecting a visitor to content that resides within the Anoka Technical College or Anoka-Ramsey Community College environment. When linking to a news article about Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College, check first to see whether you can link to a release.  

• Protect the institutional voice: Posts on social media sites should protect the college’s institutional voice by remaining professional in tone and in good taste. No individual at Anoka Technical College or Anoka-Ramsey Community College should construe its social media site as representing the college(s) as a whole. Consider this when naming pages or accounts, selecting a profile picture or icon, and selecting content to post—names, profile images, and posts should all be clearly linked to the particular department or unit rather than to the institution(s) as a whole.

Do not post content that violates Student Conduct Code:  Student conduct policies and procedures may apply when posts on college and/or personal pages violate the student conduct code.

Do not post content that violates Minnesota State Board Policy 5.22 and Minnesota State Board Procedure 5.22.1 Acceptable Use of Computers and Information Technology Resources.  Any comment or post that violates Minnesota State Board Policy 5.22 and Minnesota State Board Procedure 5.22.1 Acceptable Use of Computers and Information Technology Resources will be removed without prior notice. Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College reserves the right to block posts from “fans or friends” who violate this policy.

Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College also has created Social Media Guidelines with advice and recommendations for posting to specific popular social media sites. 

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History:

10.2014 Adopted

08.2017 Technical change: MnSCU to Minnesota State