This policy provides rules for communication on university website properties as well as content creation, communication and posting on third-party sites, including but not limited to social networks, blogs, forums, boards or other sites that permit posting or publishing content.

POLICIES FOR ALL DIGITAL MEDIA SITES, INCLUDING PERSONAL SITES

The University of Louisville digital media policies help protect the university and its brand, improve brand messaging and to set a standard for using, communicating and publishing content on websites, social media and other digital media platforms.

• Protect confidential and proprietary information: Do not post confidential or proprietary information about the University of Louisville, students, employees, or alumni. Employees must still follow the applicable federal requirements such as FERPA, PCI-DSS and HIPAA, as well as NCAA regulations. Adhere to all applicable university privacy and confidentiality policies. Employees who share confidential information do so at the risk of disciplinary action or termination.
• Respect copyright and fair use: When posting, be mindful of the copyright and intellectual property rights of others and of the university. For guidance, consult the Copyright Guidelines & Resources. Direct questions about fair use or copyrighted material to the University Libraries contact Dwayne Buttler, Dwayne.buttler@louisville.edu, at 852-3128 or visit their office in room 276 of the William F. Ekstrom Library.
• Don’t use University of Louisville logos for endorsements: Do not use the University of Louisville logo or any other university images or iconography on personal digital media sites, apps or profiles used for commercial or marketing purposes [an online, personal, resume or Curriculum Vitae, may use the university name as an employer but not as an endorser of you, your product, service, research or any other endorsements (explicit or implied)]. Do not use University of Louisville’s name to promote a product, service, cause, political party or candidate. For additional logo and brand usage, visit the University of Louisville Brand Guideline Policies.
• Respect university time and property: University computers and time on the job are reserved for university-related business as approved by supervisors and in accordance with the Internet Acceptable Use Policy and User Accounts and Acceptable Use documents.
• Terms of service: Obey the Terms of Service of any digital media, social media or mobile platform.
• The University of Louisville prohibits the use of advertising, promotion or endorsement of third parties on the university web or digital properties and other official university communication, including email, social media or other digital media without prior approval from the Office of Communications and Marketing (sponsorship approval). Additionally, the university prohibits the posting of any symbols or logos of third parties on the university’s website or digital properties without the approval from the third party and the Office of Communications and Marketing.  Advertising on official university properties or communication may be considered a violation of UBIT policies.

INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL MEDIA

If you post on behalf of an official university unit, the following policies must be adhered to in addition to all policies and best practices listed above:

• Notify the university: Departments or university units that have a digital presence or would like to start one should contact the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM) at 502-852-2670 or email web@louisville.edu to ensure all institutional digital media sites coordinate with other University of Louisville sites and their content. All institutional pages must have a full-time appointed employee who is identified as being responsible for content and one full-time employee as a backup. We will verify your employment and that you are authorized by the department to run the social media, web site or mobile app profile. Ideally, this should be the unit head of the department. Both administrator email addresses must be provided to OCM for inclusion in the University Notification and Presidential posting email notices. Administrators may or may not post the notices unless mandated by the President. The purpose of the notices is to ensure that all students, faculty and staff are given the same information from all University outlets. 
• Acknowledge who you are: If you are representing The University of Louisville when posting on a digital media platform, acknowledge this.
• Have a plan: Departments should consider their messages, audiences, and goals, as well as a strategy for keeping information on digital media sites or mobile apps up-to-date. The Office of Communications and Marketing can assist and advise you with your digital media planning.
• Link back to the university: Whenever possible, link back to the University of Louisville site. Ideally, posts should be very brief; redirecting a visitor to content that resides within the University of Louisville web environment. When linking to a news article about the University of Louisville, check first to see whether you can link to a release on UofL Today (http://louisville.edu/uofltoday) instead of to a publication or other media outlet.
• Protect the institutional voice: Posts on digital media sites should protect the university’s institutional voice by remaining professional in tone and in good taste. No individual University of Louisville unit should construe its digital media site(s) or profiles as representing the university as a whole. Consider this when naming pages or accounts, selecting a profile picture or icon, and selecting content to post—names, profile images, and posts should all be clearly linked to the particular department or unit rather than to the institution as a whole.
• Email policies are included within the ITS Internet Acceptable Use Policy and ITS Electronic Data and Voice Mail Disclosure Policy. Any email distributed to a large number of internal faculty or staff must be approved by John Drees in the Office of Communications and Marketing. Email directed at the students (internally) must be approved by the Bursar's office and the Bursar plus the Office of Communications and Marketing must approve any bulk external communication with students.

INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL MEDIA COMMENT POLICY

• We expect conversations to follow the rules of polite discourse and we ask that participants treat each other, as well as our employees, with respect. In the event you are posting content that is contrary to these policies, you may be asked to remove the University of Louisville's name(s) or identities from any and all of your personal profiles, immediately, upon request. University employees will not post or approve post comments that include:
  • Profanity and vulgar or abusive language.
  • Threats of physical or bodily harm.
  • Sensitive information (for example, information that could compromise public safety, intellectual property, research policy or national security).
  • Offensive terms. For example, that target specific ethnic, religious or racial groups.
    
    
• For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic," when you post or approve posts. This means that comments will be posted only as they relate to the topic being discussed/viewed/played/displayed. University employees will not post comments that include:
  • Off-topic comments (if you have off-topic comments that are relevant to the department, organization or group please submit them directly to the group, not on an off-topic public platform).
  • Questions from the media (please contact the Office of Communications and Marketing if there is a post by the media which needs to be addressed 502-509-2218).
  • University digital media sites should not permit friends, followers or the general public to create new posts. For example, Facebook and blog pages or accounts should not give ‘everyone,’ ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ access to their wall or the ability to post. These opportunities open the University to legal, libel and regulatory concerns that are not necessary. Notwithstanding the liabilities, if you choose to allow public posts, we require the digital media account/profile administrators to be constantly vigil about monitoring and declining content (immediately or as quickly as possible) that does not meet the standards outlined in these policies.
  • Identical comments by the same user (please don't post or approve comments submitted over and over expecting the post to show up faster) or multiple users (a group of people sending identical messages or one person submitting under different aliases). In the case of identical comments, you should approve the first submission unless you have specifically requested the comment as part of a challenge, contest or promotion.

DIGITAL MEDIA POLICY NOTIFICATION

Digital media websites each have their own terms & conditions and/or policies, all UofL employees must adhere to these policies if they choose to use the social media platforms. Not following these policies/terms may lead to the removal of your social media account and may adversely affect or reflect poorly upon other areas of the University. Please keep up to date on your social media platform policies/terms.

BEST PRACTICES

This section applies to those posting on behalf of an official university unit, though the guidelines may be helpful for anyone posting on digital media in any capacity.

• Think twice before posting: Privacy does not always exist in the world of digital media. Consider what could happen if a post becomes widely known and how that may reflect both on the poster and the university. Search engines can turn up posts years after they are created, and comments can be forwarded or copied. If you would not say it at a conference or to a member of the media, consider whether you should post it online. If you are unsure about posting something or responding to a comment, ask your supervisor for input or contact the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM) at 502-852-2670.
• Strive for accuracy: Get the facts straight before posting them online or through mobile applications. Review content for grammatical and spelling errors. This is especially important if posting on behalf of the university in any capacity. (See “Institutional social media” below.)
• Be respectful: Understand that content contributed to a digital media site or mobile app could encourage comments or discussion of opposing ideas. Responses should be considered carefully in light of how they would reflect on the poster and/or the university and its institutional voice.
• Remember your audience: Be aware that a presence in the digital media/mobile app world is or easily can be made available to the public at large. This includes prospective students, current students, current employers and colleagues, and peers. Consider this before publishing to ensure the post will not alienate, harm, or provoke any of these groups.
• On personal sites, identify your views as your own. If you identify yourself as a University of Louisville faculty or staff member online, it should be clear that the views expressed are not necessarily those of the institution.
• Photography: Photographs posted on social media sites easily can be appropriated by visitors. Consider adding a watermark and/or posting images at 72 dpi and approximately 800x600 resolution to protect your intellectual property. Images at that size are sufficient for viewing on the Web, but not suitable for printing. Remember that the policies of the University of Louisville Creative Services (including photography) related to purchasing and using their images apply online as well as in print. Contact Creative Services Photography at 502-852-8117 with questions.

External digital media terms (this may not be up to date, visit the sites for the most up to date policies/terms).

http://Facebook.com

• Privacy
• Terms

 http://YouTube.com

• Privacy
• Terms
• Copyright

 http://Twitter.com

• Privacy
• Terms
  

http://instagram.com

• Privacy
• Terms

http://snapchat.com

• Privacy
• Terms

 http://MySpace.com

• Privacy
• Terms

 http://Blogger.com

• Privacy
• Terms
• Content

 http://Typepad.com

• Privacy
• Terms

 http://WordPress.com

• Privacy
• Terms
  
  

http://flickr.com

• Privacy
• Terms

 http://imodules.com

• Privacy

 http://foursquare.com/

• Privacy
• Terms

 http://scvngr.com/

• Privacy
• Terms

Please note that your use of these tools is pursuant to the UofL Electronic Records Retention policy.

http://louisville.edu/library/archives/recmgmt/elecmgmt.html

The Office of Communications and Marketing updates monthly, the information and any training material that relate to digital media and online. You can find the most up to date information, training course (OCMu) schedule and resources by visiting http://louisville.edu/ocm

This policy works in conjunction with the following policies:

University of Louisville IT Policies http://louisville.edu/it/policies/policies

Employee Code of Conduct http://louisville.edu/compliance/ico/code-1 

Student Code of Conduct http://louisville.edu/dos/students/codeofconduct

Sexual & Discrimination Policies http://louisville.edu/hr/employeerelations/discrimination-and-harassment

Athletics’ privacy policy http://www.sidearmsports.com/privacypolicy/

1. Digital Media is all digitized content that can be transmitted over the internet or computer networks. This can include code, text, audio, video, and graphics. This means that news from a TV network, newspaper, magazine, etc. that is presented on a Web site or blog can fall into this category.
   
   
2. Social Media:
   • Facebook
   • Twitter
   • Instagram
   • LinkedIn
   • SnapChat
   • Vine
   • Periscope
   • Meerkat
   • YikYak
   • Secret
   • Whisper
   • Kik, WhatsApp
   • All other public or private ‘social networks,’ communities, boards or sites
     
     
3. Websites, blogs or publications:
   • Louisville.edu
   • UofLnews.com, UofLBlog.com
   • WordPress.com
   • All other websites available to the public or a large private community

Individuals are responsible and liable for their own personal or university posts (of any kind and on any site).

Departments, schools or originations are responsible for monitoring and policing their own websites, social media profiles or other online publications, including all statements, images or videos.

Any party using digital technology (Wi-Fi, cellular networks or wired connections) to transmit data, save data or control Drone, remote controlled or unmanned aircraft systems must abide by FAA regulations (faa.gov/uas) and rules located on the FAA Website (click text for link) and contact web@louisville.edu for approval to fly.

The Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM) oversees the President’s website, Louisville.edu and the main university (academic) social media and news or media (Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) websites and monitors trending topics, issues and policy violations as they are able. OCM will contact all policy violators and work toward a resolution.

Notify web@louisville.edu or (502) 852-2670 with any issues, complaints, questions or if you discover violations.