These guidelines apply to DeSales University faculty, employees, or contractors who create or contribute to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media. Whether you log into Twitter, Yelp, Wikipedia, MySpace or Facebook pages, or comment on online media stories — these guidelines are for you.
NOTE: If you are creating a social media presence for a department or program of the University, you must advise the communications department by contacting kristin.greenberg@desales.edu x 1764. Also, be sure you don’t neglect your pages on the DeSales website and other offical DeSales Univeristy communications channels.
While all DeSales employees are welcome to participate in social media, we expect everyone who participates in online commentary to understand and to follow these simple but important guidelines. These rules might sound strict and contain a bit of legal-sounding jargon but please keep in mind that our overall goal is simple: to participate online in a respectful, relevant way that protects our reputation and of course follows the letter and spirit of the law. Remember: Even anonymous comments may be traced back to your DeSales University’s IP address.
- Be transparent and state that you work at DeSales. Your honesty will be noted in the social media environment. If you are writing about DeSales University or a competitor, use your real name, identify that you work for DeSales University, and be clear about your role. If you have a vested interest in what you are discussing, be the first to say so.
- Never represent yourself or DeSales University in a false or misleading way. All statements must be true and not misleading; all claims must be substantiated.
- Be respectful of the Catholic and Salesian heritage that DeSales University is founded upon.
- Post meaningful, respectful comments — in other words, please, no spam and no remarks that are off-topic or offensive.
- Use common sense and common courtesy: for example, it’s best to ask permission to publish or report on conversations that are meant to be private or internal to DeSales University. Make sure your efforts to be transparent don’t violate DeSales University’s privacy, confidentiality, and legal guidelines for external commercial speech.
- Stick to your area of expertise and do feel free to provide unique, individual perspectives on non-confidential activities at DeSales University.
- When disagreeing with others’ opinions, keep it appropriate and polite. If you find yourself in a situation online that looks as if it’s becoming antagonistic, do not get overly defensive and do not disengage from the conversation abruptly: feel free to ask the communications department for advice and/or to disengage from the dialogue in a polite manner that reflects well on DeSales University.
- If you want to write about the competition, make sure you behave diplomatically, have the facts straight and that you have the appropriate permissions.
- Never comment on anything related to legal matters, litigation, or any parties DeSales University may be in litigation with.
- Never participate in social media when the topic being discussed may be considered a crisis situation. Refer all social media activity around crisis topics to the communications department.
- Be smart about protecting yourself, your privacy, and DeSales University’s confidential information. What you publish is widely accessible and will be around for a long time, so consider the content carefully. Google has a long memory.
Note: All mainstream media inquiries must be referred to:
Tom McNamara, Executive Director of Communications
610-282-1100 x 1219 | tom.mcnamara@desales.edu
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Acceptable Use of RESNET
