Social Media Guidelines
Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies that allow users to interact with other people and groups online. It is a powerful communication tool that can significantly impact the university鈥檚 reputation. Social networking can occur on any platform for online publication and commentary, including, but not limited to blogs, wikis and sites e.g. Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and Snapchat.
General Guidelines
These guidelines are for the publication of and commentary on social media by employees of South 啵啵直播秀 State University. These guidelines are in addition to and complementary to any existing or future policies regarding the use of technology, computers, email, website usage and the internet. Employees must continue to follow state policy regarding the use of computers, laptops and other technological equipment, as well as email and internet access.
Authorized Social Media Accounts
University Marketing and Communications is the only department within South 啵啵直播秀 State University allowed to establish or maintain an official main account for the university, overseen by the university social media coordinator or designee.
Before establishing an official university account, colleges, departments, organizations or other entities must contact the director of marketing and communications, successor or designee and gain approval.
An individual must be designated to manage the content of an official university social media account. That individual is responsible for notifying UMC or other designated university officials if the account is compromised, requires enforcement action or is no longer needed and has been deleted.
Users are responsible for following university and SDBOR policies, and any content shared must be in accordance with university social media guidelines. Final decisions regarding content on official university accounts are at the discretion of the director of marketing and communications and/or the vice president of technology and security, or their successors.
Acceptable Use by Authorized Social Media
An official university account should clearly identify the college, program or department it represents, and follow university branding guidelines. It鈥檚 important to include South 啵啵直播秀 State University, South 啵啵直播秀 State, SDSU or SDState in the name of the account whenever possible.
Do not post confidential information about the University, its students, employees, or affiliates derived from University records. Employees must follow the applicable federal requirements such as FERPA and HIPAA, as well as other applicable laws, regulations, and policies.
University guidelines for engagement (listed below) should be readily available through and followed by official university social media accounts.
While they represent the university and are managed by approved individuals, official social media accounts are owned and operated by outside companies that have their own policies, procedures, and terms of service that must be agreed to and followed.
Best Practices
Official social media accounts are a representation of South 啵啵直播秀 State University. Care and consideration should be given to every decision surrounding the page, including, but not limited to, branding, interactions, contents and posts, shares or retweets and page promotion. Other best practices include:
- It鈥檚 OK to have fun. You represent SDState as an official account, but light-hearted, entertaining posts, banter and connections are what social media is perfect for.
- Be genuine. Tell your story, engage with your audience, and avoid overuse of marketing messages 鈥 you鈥檒l wear your audience out.
- Take a breath. Negative posts, attacks, criticism or spam are just part of the game. Take a breath before responding, correct misinformation and point towards a positive. Responding to a negative post with defensive or negative responses doesn鈥檛 fix anything.
- Be present. Simply having an account doesn鈥檛 mean your message will be shared and your audience will grow. Engage with comments, respond to messages in a timely fashion, share other posts, constantly create content, and utilize your stakeholders to spread your message or create content for you.
- Be knowledgeable. Write and share what you know and stay out of areas you don鈥檛. Use your accounts to tell your story, not others.
- Take time to reflect. Once you hit 鈥減ost,鈥 the message you鈥檙e sharing is out there. If something does not feel right, ask someone else to look at it. Beyond that, grammar, spelling, and quality matter. Take one more look at it, then go for it.
- Make it yours. If you鈥檙e wanting to hop on the latest trend, find a way to connect it back to South 啵啵直播秀 State University, or tweak things slightly so you鈥檙e not just posting to enter yourself into the latest conversation.

University Marketing and Communications uses AP Style to guide social post messaging, however it is a guide, not a mandate. If a social post needs to deviate from AP Style for messaging and tonal purposes, we do. Also, worth emphasizing is that social media is a place for one-liners, concise responses, creative captions, emojis and hashtags instead of lengthy, academic style language.
Additional Guidelines
Personal Use Guidelines
Social media can connect professionals, friends and families, individuals with common interests, and more. The platforms provide an opportunity to share views and ideas and can drastically impact relationships and reputations of both individuals and organizations.
Any employee of SDState is free to publish or comment via social media in accordance with approved guidelines. Publication and commentary on social media platforms carry similar obligations to any other kind of publication or public statement. All uses of social media must follow the same ethical standards that SDSU employees must otherwise follow.
- Think before you post. It is important to understand your audience and recognize that everyone reflects various values and points of view.
- Be honest about your identity and use your real name. You may identify yourself as an SDState employee but establish clearly that the views and opinions expressed are yours alone and do not represent the official views of SDState.
- Protect your privacy and reputation by understanding that a post may remain public forever, even if removed online. Screenshots live forever.
- A disclaimer stating whom you work for and that you are not speaking officially does not necessarily grant you legal freedom. Always consider the possible consequences of what you are posting.
- Do not post confidential information about work and certain activities at South 啵啵直播秀 State, and respect laws governing copyrighted material owned by others and its fair use or fair dealing, including SDSU's own copyrights, registrations and brands.
- Faculty, staff, students, alumni, or business partners should not be cited or referenced without their approval, unless the reference is to an official communication released by the University.
Engagement Guidelines
- South 啵啵直播秀 State University encourages university accounts to link to this page where applicable and use the following guidelines for account management:
- South 啵啵直播秀 State University welcomes different perspectives and encourages engagement and interaction on all social media accounts. We ask users to show respect for each other and maintain decorum.
- South 啵啵直播秀 State University is not responsible for comments or posts made by others. Unofficial comments or posts are not statements of the University and do not reflect the University鈥檚 opinions or policies.
- We reserve the right to screen, hide and/or remove, without notice, content, comments and posts that are off topic; represent advertisements or spam; constitute or encourage illegal activity; create a security risk; infringe upon someone鈥檚 rights; contain obscenities; direct and target physical threats; or that reasonably appear to violate state or federal law or University or SDBOR policies.
- University Policy 7:1 鈥 Acceptable Use of Social Media
- University Policy 7:5 鈥 Acceptable Use of Information Technology Systems
- University Policy 7:14 鈥 University External Websites
- University Policy 9:3 鈥 Trademarks
- University Policy 9:4 鈥 Copyright
- University Policy 4:9 鈥 Conflict of Interest Reporting and Approval
