These are the official guidelines for social media usage at Gonzaga University. If you are a Gonzaga University employee or student creating and/or contributing to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media both on and off www.gonzaga.edu—these guidelines are for you. We expect all who participate in social media on behalf of Gonzaga to be trained to understand and follow these guidelines.
Failure to do so could put your future participation at risk. These guidelines will evolve as new technologies and social networking tools emerge. So, check back frequently to be sure you're up to date.
When You Engage
Emerging platforms for online collaboration are fundamentally changing the way we work, offering new ways to engage with customers, colleagues, and the world. It's a new model for interaction and we believe social engagement can help build stronger, more successful relationships. It's a way to take part in conversations related to the work we do at Gonzaga and what we care about. If you participate in social media on behalf of Gonzaga University, please follow these principles:
- Stick to your area of expertise and provide unique, individual perspectives about Gonzaga and the world.
- Post meaningful, respectful comments. In other words, no spam and no off-topic or offensive remarks.
- Always pause and think before posting. Be timely in your replies to comments, respond when appropriate. This means no response can be best at times.
- Respect proprietary (copyrighted or trademarked) information and content as well as confidentiality.
- When disagreeing with others' opinions, keep it appropriate and polite. Disagree about ideas, not people.
- Know and follow the Acceptable Use Policy and the Gonzaga University Privacy Policy
- Be sure to include a link to our Social Media User Expectations in the ‘About’ section of your social media page. Be prepared to enforce these expectations in a fair, balanced and consistent way. Consult Marketing & Communications when uncertain about a user expectation situation.
- Be familiar with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and respect students' right to privacy and confidentiality in accordance with federal law.
Rules of Engagement
Be transparent.
Your degree of honesty will be quickly noticed online. If you communicate about your work at Gonzaga, use your real name, identify your association with Gonzaga and be clear about your role. If you have a vested interest in something you are discussing, point it out up-front. Be transparent about your identity and relationship to Gonzaga. You may need to maintain confidentiality for proprietary information and content.
Be judicious.
Make sure your efforts to be transparent don't violate Gonzaga’s privacy, confidentiality and legal guidelines for external commercial speech. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations meant to be private or internal to Gonzaga. All statements must be true and not misleading and all claims must be substantiated and approved. Never comment on anything related to legal matters, litigation or any parties we are in litigation with unless you have appropriate approval. If you want to write about the competition make sure you know your subject matter and have the appropriate permission. Protect yourself, your privacy and Gonzaga confidential information. What you publish is widely accessible and may permanently be found on the internet, so consider the content carefully.
Write what you know.
Write about your area(s) of expertise, especially related to Gonzaga. If you are writing about a topic that Gonzaga is involved with but you are not the Gonzaga expert on the topic, refrain from discussing the matter or make it clear to your readers that you are not an expert or spokesperson on the topic. If you publish to a Web site outside Gonzaga, consider a disclaimer such as:
“The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent Gonzaga's positions, strategies, or opinions.”
Respect brand, trademark, copyright, fair use, trade secrets (including our processes and methodologies), confidentiality and financial disclosure laws. If you have any questions about these, see your Gonzaga legal representative. Remember, you may be personally responsible for your content.
Perception is reality.
In online social networks the lines between public & private and personal & professional are blurred. By identifying yourself as a Gonzaga employee, you are creating perceptions about your expertise and about Gonzaga with our many constituents and the public.
Perceptions about you by your colleagues. Do us all proud. Be sure all content associated with you is consistent with your work and with Gonzaga’s values and professional standards.
It's a conversation.
Talk to your readers as you would to real people in professional situations, avoiding condescending language. Bring in your personality and share what's on your mind. Consider content that's open-ended and invites response. You can broaden the conversation by citing others who are posting about the same topic and allowing your content to be shared.
Are you adding value?
There are billions of words out there. The best way to get yours read is to share content that people value. Social communication from Gonzaga should help our constituencies. It should be thought-provoking and build a sense of community. Help people improve their knowledge and skills or to understand Gonzaga better.
Your Responsibility
What you write is ultimately your responsibility. Participation in social media on behalf of Gonzaga is not a right but an opportunity, so please treat it seriously and with respect. If you want to participate on behalf of Gonzaga, please complete the Gonzaga Social Media Approval form. Please know and follow the Gonzaga Acceptable Use Policy. Failure to abide by these guidelines and the Gonzaga University Acceptable Use Policy could put your participation at risk. Please also follow the terms and conditions for appropriate third-party sites. Contact hardt@gonzaga.edu for more information and questions.
Create some excitement.
Gonzaga makes important contributions to the world, the future of education and to public dialogue on a broad range of issues. Let's share with the world the exciting things we're learning and doing – and open up the channels to learn from others.
Be a Leader.
There can be a fine line between healthy debate and incendiary reaction. Do not denigrate our competitors or Gonzaga.
Frame, Don’t Inflame: Try to frame what you write to invite differing viewpoints without inflaming others. Some topics, such as politics or religion, are sensitive so be careful and considerate. Once the words are out there, you can’t get them back.
Did you screw up?
If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and correct it quickly.
If it gives you pause, pause.
If you're about to publish something that makes you slightly uncomfortable, don't shrug it off and 'send.' Take a minute to review these guidelines and try to figure out what's bothering you, then fix it. If you're still unsure, you might want to discuss it with your manager or legal representative.
Moderation Guidelines
Moderation is the act of reviewing and approving content before it's published on the site. (This applies to social media content written on behalf of Gonzaga, whether a site is on or off www.gonzaga.edu.) Gonzaga does not endorse or take responsibility for content posted by third parties. This includes text input and uploaded files (video, images, audio, executables, documents).
While we strongly encourage user participation, there are some guidelines we ask you to follow to keep it safe for everyone.
Community moderation.
For established, healthy communities, group moderation by regular users can work well. This will sometimes be allowed to take the place of pre-moderation; it must be applied for and approved.
Balanced online dialogue.
Whether favorable to Gonzaga or not, we will, in general, approve content so long as it is germane to a conversation and/or an audience. However, content that is ugly, offensive, denigrating or out of context will be rejected. Refer to the Social Media User Expectations for any questions.