University Social Media Policy Overview – Ohio State Buckeyes
University Social Media Policy Overview & Resources
Social media affords a platform to shape our storytelling in the digital space. In each instance, we strive to best highlight the accomplishments and achievements of our more than 1,000 student-athletes, 600-plus staff, the department’s mission and the overall core values of the university.
Digital media is a direct communicative arm to the fan, the prospective student and student-athlete, the donor and prospective donors as well as our opponents and our rivals. At the same time, use of these platforms also presents risks to our department and university.
The university’s Institutional Social Media Accounts for Marketing and Communications policy has been adopted and is in the implementation phase campus wide. The policy was initiated partly in response to the hacking of social media accounts at peer institutions. It provides guidance in risk management requirements, a structure for setting up new accounts, central reviews of end-user agreements and brand protection.
Please find the following excerpts from the policy that are most important to the department of athletics. Any questions regarding the following information or the university policy can be directed to your area’s assigned digital advisor.
Who does this policy cover?
Personal and/or work use? Employees? Students? Faculty?
- Accounts used strictly for personal use are not covered by the policy. With that said, employees should be mindful of their actions on social media so as not to unwittingly represent, or pose risk to the department or the university.
- Students/Student-Athletes are not covered by the policy. However, please be reminded of the social media standards within the University Student Code of Conduct and the Ohio State Student Athlete Standards of Conduct and Social Media Policy.
- Student Organizations are not covered by the policy.
- Accounts held by leaders within the department of athletics are included in the policy if they are acting as a principle administrator or if university resources (e.g., staff expertise, computer, phones, produced media, etc.) are used to support their social profile(s).
Administration of Social Media Accounts
- Each institutional social media account must have at least two lead administrators made up of at least one member of the athletics communications area and an advisor from the digital media unit.
- Institutional social media accounts must be approved through a formalized application process. Accounts created prior to March 15, 2019 do not need to apply.
- Want to start a new account? Teams must work alongside their assigned digital advisor to develop a strategy for your plan. If still needed, the team/area contact and digital advisor will work to complete the university’s application for a new social media account.
- Social media accounts will be audited annually to meet a minimum set of requirements.
- University Marketing and the athletics digital team reserve the ability to freeze or close an account if the application process is not followed, audits are not conducted, or minimum requirements are not met.
Logins and Passwords
- At least two full-time staff members from athletics (your communications contact and your digital advisor) will need access to current social media account logins and passwords.
- Personal email addresses should not be used for login information—only OSU.edu accounts.
- Passwords and account recovery information should be changed on a quarterly schedule, and passwords should not be stored outside university-protected servers.
Athletics social media account managers have access to a password management tool. For information or a tutorial on the tool, please contact your digital advisor.
Branding Social Media Accounts
- Accounts must visually represent The Ohio State University Department of Athletics through proper use of logos, colors and imagery in profile appearance.
- Profile images and avatars are available to official athletic accounts upon request.
- Images used in covers, headers or profiles should accurately represent the college or unit represented by the account.
- The account description/bio should not lead viewers to believe the entity operates as an organization or nonprofit outside the university.
- A consistent naming convention should be used across all associated accounts. Established account names will be reviewed if necessary.
- Any deviation from the university or departmental branding guidelines must be approved by the Creative Services team.
Public Records and Deleting of Content
- Information created and stored on institutional social media accounts may be subject to Ohio public records law and public records requests. There are considerations for protecting free speech and record retention that should be discussed.
- If you post content and then immediately identify a spelling or grammatical error or informational inaccuracy, you may fix it. However, Ohio State is a public institution and account managers have a responsibility to work with Legal Affairs, University Communications and University Marketing if they desire to remove other content or hide followers comments.
Copyright
Do not violate copyright laws. Downloading music, television or movie clips or images from open resources (Google, Bing, YouTube, Wikipedia, etc.) and using them on Ohio State’s social media platforms may be a violation of copyright laws, even if your source claims the content is rights free. Be sure to obtain permission to use images, videos and audio before sharing digitally.
The athletics department also subscribes to a number of rights-free databases for content use. Contact video services or digital media if you have questions.
Media Rights
- Imagery and/or video gathered at Ohio State athletics events is the property of the Ohio State Department of Athletics (OSUDA).
- Credentialed employees or volunteers, whether utilizing OSUDA issued equipment or personal equipment, must agree any secondary use of any picture, photograph, audio description, video or other description of an event taken or made by the accredited organization or to whom a credential has been issued is prohibited without written approval by the Ohio State University of the Big Ten Conference.
Platform Policies
Additional Policy Notes
- Account audits: Account managers must audit their accounts annually for compliance with the current minimum requirements set forth in the policy.
- While accounts representing principal administrative officials are not required to complete the annual audit required of unit institutional social media accounts, these individual accounts remain subject to policy terms.
- Account managers must submit audit results to unit social media leads and University Marketing by July 15 each year. Minimum requirements not met must be fixed within 30 days of discovery.
- Social media account managers and digital advisors: An account manager is the person with primary day-to-day responsibility over a social media account, which is most likely your team’s athletic communications contact but could also be an assistant coach, your director of operations, etc. The digital media advisor is the person acting as the policy expert for account managers within their unit and the primary point of contact for University Marketing in regard to the policy. In athletics, this person does not operate in the same role.
