Social Media Guidelines

The Marketing Department manages the University of Saint Francis’ brand identity and collaborates with others across the university to ensure that all communications serve the university’s mission and values.

USF faculty, staff, and students should observe the same professional and behavioral standards online and when using social media as they would in person.

Guidelines for All Social Media Usage:

1. Think before you post. If you would not say something in public, do not post it online.
2. Be respectful. You can be held legally liable for comments you make online.
3. Read, follow, and obey the Terms of Service for all social media tools.
4. Do not post confidential and proprietary information. Adhere to USF policies and procedures as well as federal standards such as FERPA and HIPAA.
5. Be respectful of copyrighted and trademarked information.
6. Be transparent and authentic. Make it clear that your views are your own and are not necessarily representative of the university.

Blogging/Social Media views expressed by members of the campus community on social media, websites, blogs, or in other public forums do not necessarily represent the view of the University of Saint Francis. The university may respond with disciplinary or legal action toward students who post material that is offensive, sexually explicit, encourages violence, attacks an individual’s character, violates law, or encourages behavior inconsistent with University of Saint Francis mission and values.

Guidelines for Institutional Social Media Usage:

You may find that your department, program, club or organization is better served by creating and maintaining its own site. If you post on behalf of the university, all policies and guidelines must be followed.

1. Get approval from your supervisor, director, dean and/or club advisor before creating an official social media presence.
2. When posting online, acknowledge that you are representing the University of Saint Francis.
3. When naming your site, use official names and not pseudonyms.
4. Regularly monitor postings on all social media sites where you have a presence. Respond when appropriate, but never engage in hostile exchanges. Remove comments that are vulgar, obscene, defamatory, or libelous. Notify Marketing if such comments appear on your site.
5. Post relevant and timely information. If you no longer want to operate your site, please disable or deleter it.
6. Verify that all information is accurate before you post. When mistakes are made, retract or correct them immediately.
7. Use university-approved logos for official sites. Do not alter any USF logos or insignia.
8. When possible, link back to the University of Saint Francis website.
9. Read, follow, and obey the Terms of Service for all  social media tools.

The University of Saint Francis reserves the right to disable and/or report any social media site or page that does not follow these policies or the Terms of Service as described by the entity.