Social Media Guidelines
Social media is an important platform for connecting and sharing information about the people and opportunities at IWU.
These guidelines are intended for communicators using social media as representatives of Illinois Wesleyan University administrative and academic departments. The goal of these guidelines is to provide guidance so that social media used to represent IWU is supportive of the University’s overall communications goals and consistent with the University’s values and policies such as those related to conduct, privacy and copyright. (Related guidelines are available for affiliated accounts such as Registered Student Organizations.)
Support Our Identity: Social media communications on behalf of the University should reinforce our core messages and visual identity.
- The University’s core messages are described in the University Writing Guide.
- Acceptable web-formatted graphic identity elements can be obtained from the Marketing Department. Resources and guidelines are at www.iwu.edu/identity
Political Activity: As a non-profit, private institution of higher education whose activities are regulated in part by Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, the University is prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity or permitting its resources to be used for support of such activities.
In all cases, personal opinions should not be represented as the University's or department's viewpoint.
Follow Applicable Policies: Individuals representing the University through social media channels are responsible for knowing and abiding by University policies governing standards of conduct, such as those in the Student, Faculty and Staff Handbooks and the Sexual Misconduct Policy. The various handbooks provide definitions and sanctions against harassment and intolerance.
Respect applicable copyright and fair use laws.
While Illinois Wesleyan University encourages civil discourse and the exchange of ideas, certain types of speech are not conducive to our community values and will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, speech that:
- Incites violence or promotes hate against individuals or groups based on race, national origin, shared ancestry, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics.
- Constitutes harassment, defamation or discrimination.
- Threatens the physical safety of others.
- Unjustifiably invades substantial privacy or confidentiality interests.
Be Respectful: When using social media, common principles of good manners and good judgment should be observed.
The following additional guidelines are best practices for maintaining social media accounts representing the institution:
Identify Yourself: Don't hide or misrepresent your identity when posting. When posting as a representative of the University, indicate your connection or role at IWU.
Account Ownership: Clearly assign responsibility to the person(s) in charge of regularly posting and monitoring the content on a social media platform. Remember to make arrangements for succession, so responsibility and administrative access to the account can be transferred to an active IWU employee when necessary. Keep passwords secure.
Stay Connected: Maintain the account with regular updates and postings. Respond to prompts and questions in a timely manner. If you can’t devote time to this important task, don’t start a social media account.
Allow Interaction: Social media demands authenticity. It is generally best not to censor or delete unflattering comments. However, it is recommended to delete comments or posts that contain profanity, obvious spam, defamatory, harassing or discriminatory content. Consider posting a disclaimer on your social media site that you reserve the right to remove such comments.
Be Accurate: Take the time to learn about an issue or topic before posting. If something has been posted in error, admit and correct the mistake as soon as possible.
Protect Confidentiality: Don't share information that is not meant to be common knowledge.