Guidelines

All social media sites

  • Do not post confidential information about Missouri State University, its students, employees or alumni. As described in the university’s Privacy Policy, employees must follow appropriate federal requirements such as FERPA, as well as adhere to the university’s privacy and confidentiality policies.
  • Be respectful of copyright, fair use and intellectual property rights of others and of the university. For guidance, refer to the Policies and Guidelines or contact the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning regarding Fair Use guidelines.
  • Obey the terms of service of any social media platform on which you have a web presence.

Institutional social media sites

  • Departments, university units or organizations that have a social media presence should contact the Office of Strategic Communication to ensure that all institutional social media sites coordinate with other Missouri State University sites and their content.
  • The Web Policy considers social media sites a component of a university website. The website supervisor is responsible for any associated social media sites.
  • Supervisors for institutional social media sites must follow and enforce the Comment Guidelines.
  • As described in the Commercial Activity Guidelines, commercial activity is not allowed on institutional social media sites.
  • When possible, always link back to the Missouri State University website. Posts should direct visitors to content that resides in the Missouri State University web environment.
  • Posts on institutional social media sites should protect the university’s voice by following brand guidelines on voice and remaining in good taste. No individual Missouri State department, unit or organization should construe its social media site as representing the university as a whole.

Personal social media sites

  • Use common sense, especially if you can be identified as a Missouri State employee on your social media sites. In other words, don’t post comments that could be deemed racist, sexist, derogatory or otherwise offensive.
  • Place a disclaimer, such as “Opinions are my own,” in your account bio. Otherwise, people who see your posts may believe your opinions reflect Missouri State’s.
  • Become familiar with security settings on each social media site to limit the audiences who can view your personal posts.
  • Do not use Missouri State University logos for endorsement on any personal social media sites.