Social Media Guidelines for College Employees

Hudson Valley Community College values the appropriate use of social media to communicate ideas and information and to advance the educational mission of the college. These guidelines provide best practices and expectations for employees' engagement in social media, (1.) as a representative of the college, (2.) through the college's network, systems, or equipment, and (3.) to represent or discuss matters related to the college.

Personal use of social media should be reserved for personal time, however several college departments use social media to present content and receive feedback from the public and the college community. The Communications and Marketing office is responsible for managing the official college identity on many social media platforms, while several departments and offices also manage social media accounts to promote their area's offerings and services. To ensure best practices are deployed, departments should discuss their social media strategy with the college's Web Coordinator.

Employees are important ambassadors and representatives of Hudson Valley. They should be mindful that personal and professional social media messages and content are widely accessible and may be shared in unpredictable ways with unintended audiences. They also may reflect on the college's reputation and affect members of our community. Employees are strongly encouraged to be respectful and to consider that many college stakeholders, including prospective and current students, parents, employees, partners, alumni and other constituent groups engage with the college, its employees and one another on social media.

When using social media in a professional capacity or to communicate about the college, care must be taken to ensure that information shared via social media is accurate, accessible, expresses the views of the college, and does not violate applicable laws (including, but not limited to, copyright, trademark and defamation laws) or SUNY or Hudson Valley policies.

All employees representing the college in a professional capacity on social media are responsible for managing regular postings as well as assessing and responding in a timely manner to comments, questions and messages, where appropriate. They should carefully consider the quality, tone and timing of posts and responses in light of how they may reflect on the college, its employees, departments, overall reputation and institutional voice.

Posts or comments that are perceived as discriminatory, disrespectful, harassing, insulting, lewd, threatening, or lacking in civility are prohibited on college social media outlets. Spam, advertising, political or promotional content, or information unrelated to the posted content thread or college business, also is prohibited.

The Office of Human Resources should be notified if an employee's behavior on social media is viewed to be inappropriate. Those considered to be in violation of college guidelines or policies may be subject to counsel, corrective action or discipline per college Human Resources guidelines.

Note: Portions of these guidelines were adapted from the State University of New York System Administration Social Media Policy https://www2.sysadm.suny.edu/EmployeeServices/pdf/SocialMediaPolicyMay.17.2011.pdf.