General Description
Policy Summary:
This Social Media Policy includes legal information you need to know, along with tips to aid your success. This is a living document that will be updated as the social media landscape continues to shift. Please contact Strategic Communications and Marketing (SCM), at marketing@trinity.edu with any feedback.
Purpose:
At Trinity University, we encourage our students and employees to embrace social media sites as easy-access venues for enriching communications and engagement.
While we are excited about these resources, we want to make sure that you, as social media users, are aware of your rights and responsibilities.
While we are excited about these resources, we want to make sure that you, as social media users, are aware of your rights and responsibilities.
Scope:
This policy applies to all faculty and staff employees as well as any students who manage, oversee, or contribute to a social media account for a University office, department, division, club, group, or other entity that is officially recognized by Trinity University.
Strategic Communications and Marketing should be consulted in the case of a crisis situation by calling 210-999-8406 or emailing pr@trinity.edu. SCM, along with the University Crisis Management Team, will be the only official responders to a crisis situation via social media and other channels.
Strategic Communications and Marketing should be consulted in the case of a crisis situation by calling 210-999-8406 or emailing pr@trinity.edu. SCM, along with the University Crisis Management Team, will be the only official responders to a crisis situation via social media and other channels.
Exceptions:
This Social Media Policy does not apply to social media advertisements (ads on social media sites promoting your entity, or ads promoting your entity's social media profiles). For additional information or questions regarding social media ads, please contact Strategic Communications and Marketing at marketing@trinity.edu.
Responsible Department:
- Strategic Communications & Marketing
Policy Content
Follow all applicable state and federal laws, and University faculty and staff handbooks, regulations, and policies, such as FERPA, HIPAA, and NCAA Regulations. Any content and/or online activity created by a poster or profile moderator that violates these laws and regulations, or contains/leads to the release of a student’s private personal information, is strictly prohibited and should be removed if discovered.
Social media has changed communication and recruiting in collegiate sports. All TU employees must abide by NCAA regulations when interacting and communicating with or about student-athletes on social media platforms.
Respect copyright law. “Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.” Also see copyright policy information on the University website.
Fair use allows portions of certain works to be used without consent under specific situations, however, “The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material.”
Social media has changed communication and recruiting in collegiate sports. All TU employees must abide by NCAA regulations when interacting and communicating with or about student-athletes on social media platforms.
Respect copyright law. “Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.” Also see copyright policy information on the University website.
Fair use allows portions of certain works to be used without consent under specific situations, however, “The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material.”
All Trinity-owned social media accounts are“business” accounts representing the University and should be managed according to this policy.
The University does not endorse or use any social media as a secure means of communication for online business transactions or matters involving personal information. The University will not ask for, nor should an individual send, credit card or payment information, classified information, privileged information, private information or information subject to nondisclosure agreements via any social media network.
Do not engage in personal affairs or share personal opinions in TU business accounts.
If you maintain a personal account that does not serve the purpose of representing or promoting the University, then it is recommended that you add this or a similar phrase to your profile: “Views expressed here are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.”
The University’s business accounts may limit inclusion of copyrighted music or sounds. All copyrighted music or sounds used in University accounts should be licensed through Epidemic Sound, Premium Beat or Envato or similar music licensing programs.
Employees must adhere to regular employee policies and standards of conduct. You can review information related to faculty and staff policies. Students must adhere to the student conduct policies.
Obey the terms of use for your social media platform. These rules often change; it is your duty to stay up to date. Here are links to policies for some of the more popular platforms:
Please note that by posting content to third-party applications such as social media sites, you are almost always releasing ownership rights to and control of that content. For this reason we ask that you do not share any restricted-use photos to which you may have access. If you are a faculty member using social media as a means of communicating information to your students, consider it a supplementary form of communication and not the primary form of communication.
The University does not endorse or use any social media as a secure means of communication for online business transactions or matters involving personal information. The University will not ask for, nor should an individual send, credit card or payment information, classified information, privileged information, private information or information subject to nondisclosure agreements via any social media network.
Do not engage in personal affairs or share personal opinions in TU business accounts.
If you maintain a personal account that does not serve the purpose of representing or promoting the University, then it is recommended that you add this or a similar phrase to your profile: “Views expressed here are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.”
The University’s business accounts may limit inclusion of copyrighted music or sounds. All copyrighted music or sounds used in University accounts should be licensed through Epidemic Sound, Premium Beat or Envato or similar music licensing programs.
Employees must adhere to regular employee policies and standards of conduct. You can review information related to faculty and staff policies. Students must adhere to the student conduct policies.
Obey the terms of use for your social media platform. These rules often change; it is your duty to stay up to date. Here are links to policies for some of the more popular platforms:
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Please note that by posting content to third-party applications such as social media sites, you are almost always releasing ownership rights to and control of that content. For this reason we ask that you do not share any restricted-use photos to which you may have access. If you are a faculty member using social media as a means of communicating information to your students, consider it a supplementary form of communication and not the primary form of communication.
In business accounts, utilize available graphics to reinforce the University brand. Your Trinity social media icon/profile image for your business account should comply with the TU branding standards. It should either be a photograph related to your entity, an approved logo for your entity, or another appropriately branded image. Logos and brand colors can be found here.
Trinity social media accounts must be accessible and available for use by all individuals. This includes the use of alt text for images and providing captions for video content, as well as capitalizing the first letter of multi-word hashtags.
You are encouraged to link to your source material any time you are able. This will help reduce the possibility of misinformation (and will also drive traffic to your post).
In your personal accounts, help protect your privacy online by adjusting your privacy settings and publishing your updates only to the audiences with whom you wish to share your status.
Think about the content you are about to post and double check everything, with special attention to accuracy, spelling, and grammar. Think about the value of the content and consider whether or not it may potentially malign or polarize any person or group.
Be respectful. If an audience member posts a comment to your profile that upsets you, give yourself some time to cool down before responding. Display good sportsmanship; do not malign others. Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Respond to comments, posts, mentions, and other interactions in a timely manner and with accurate information.
In your personal accounts, help protect your privacy online by adjusting your privacy settings and publishing your updates only to the audiences with whom you wish to share your status.
Think about the content you are about to post and double check everything, with special attention to accuracy, spelling, and grammar. Think about the value of the content and consider whether or not it may potentially malign or polarize any person or group.
Be respectful. If an audience member posts a comment to your profile that upsets you, give yourself some time to cool down before responding. Display good sportsmanship; do not malign others. Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Respond to comments, posts, mentions, and other interactions in a timely manner and with accurate information.
Somewhere on your Trinity business account profile, such as your account bio, it is encouraged that you give your audience a way to privately contact the profile administrator.
All Trinity profiles must have at least two (2) administrators, when applicable, to ensure that there is a fail-safe in case the primary administrator becomes unavailable in an emergency situation. If desired, you can request that the Digital Marketing Manager be listed as your secondary administrator. Please contact Strategic Marketing and Communications at marketing@trinity.edu for more information or to discuss how to meet this requirement for your profile.
TU employees who have authority to update TU social media accounts should not post personal information or personal updates to these profiles.
Do not divulge any confidential information you have access to as a TU employee (e.g., student information) on a TU social media account or your personal social media account.
All Trinity profiles must have at least two (2) administrators, when applicable, to ensure that there is a fail-safe in case the primary administrator becomes unavailable in an emergency situation. If desired, you can request that the Digital Marketing Manager be listed as your secondary administrator. Please contact Strategic Marketing and Communications at marketing@trinity.edu for more information or to discuss how to meet this requirement for your profile.
TU employees who have authority to update TU social media accounts should not post personal information or personal updates to these profiles.
Do not divulge any confidential information you have access to as a TU employee (e.g., student information) on a TU social media account or your personal social media account.
Trinity reserves the right to remove or deactivate a business account that is found to violate the policy on social media. Individuals who are administrators of University social media accounts may be suspended or access may be removed, if found to have violated policy.
Performance Evaluation
Consequences of Policy Violation:
Trinity reserves the right to remove or deactivate an account that is found to violate the policy on Social Media. Individuals who are administrators of University social media accounts may be suspended or access may be removed, if found to have violated policy.
Terms & Definitions
Terms and Definitions:
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Term: |
Definition: |
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| Business social media account | A business social media account is an official institutional account that is used to boost brand awareness, drive traffic to a website, promote content and connect with customers/stakeholders; it is an official account managed by a University employee for University promotion |
| Personal social media account | A personal social media account is focused on connecting with friends and family and is not used for business or official University promotion and engagement. |
Revision Management
Revision History Log:
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Revision #: |
Date: |
Recorded By: |
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| v2.0 | 7/15/2025 10:55 AM | Pamela Mota |
| v1.0 | 7/26/2019 11:46 AM | Marisa Kitchen |
Vice President Approval:
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Name: |
Title: |
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| Tom Evelyn | Vice President for Strategic Communications & Marketing |