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POLICY 08:13:04

COLLEGE-RELATED WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA DEVELOPMENT AND USE

This policy is consistent with TBR Policies 9.01.04.00 and 9.01.05.00

Purpose

The College website and social media accounts exist as the College’s most important communication, marketing, community engagement, and recruitment tool. Therefore, websites should maintain and build upon the projected image of the College through the highest level of excellence in engagement, education, and workforce development. This policy facilitates usability and consistency and promotes a cohesive online brand throughout all College websites that correlate directly with other communication and visual representation methods.

Definitions

Domain – Domain names recognized as associated with the College (.edu or campaign-related websites).

College Server – For the purposes of this policy, “College Server” refers to a computer system or a network of computer systems either owned, maintained, contracted with, or operated by the College for purposes of housing official College websites as approved by the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications.

College Website – For the purpose of this policy, a website/webpage is any publicly accessible digital content delivered on behalf of the College. It does not include administrative enterprise applications such as Banner or D2L or faculty pages meant to provide resources for a specific class.

College-affiliated Web Pages – Websites developed, maintained or hosted by entities other than the College but referenced or used to conduct official business or to represent the official voice of the College.

Web Content Managers – Any employee given express written permission to create or edit content on behalf of the College on a website.
Definitions included in the overarching Marketing and Communications Policy (9.01.00.00) apply.

Policy

  1. General Web Publishing
    1. The College website, including text, images, video, and other content, must follow local, state, and federal laws, including accessibility requirements and other applicable marketing, communication, branding, and information technology policies and procedures.
    2. All websites representing the College must be approved, authorized, established, and maintained by the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications or designee(s). Webpages should serve a clear purpose related to the College’s mission and goals.
      1. Pellissippi State should document appropriate procedures for units, programs, and initiatives in local policy or guidelines for website creation, including requesting web content managers.
      2. Access to and/or passwords for websites are limited to designated communications/marketing staff members and others only as authorized by the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications. A minimum of three people should have access to college websites.
    3. The College website is the property of the College; thus, web content managers must relinquish all rights and access to the accounts upon employment separation for any reason.
    4. Web content managers must be full-time employees of the College or vendors with fully executed contracts with the College as approved by purchasing and the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications.
    5. The College website must follow the TBR Policy 9.01.02.00, Publications in reporting websites as publications.
  2. Brand Content
    1. The College website should reside on a College server and under the Collegedomain.
    2. Any website or online form should be delivered via secure (SSL/TLS) connection.
    3. The College website should follow all College brand and editorial standards as set by the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications.
    4. The College website should be accessible and reviewed regularly for accessibility.
    5. Website content should be regularly reviewed by web content managers and other College staff to ensure compliance to maintain accuracy and relevancy.
    6. All college website content must follow local, state, and federal laws regarding truth in advertising and other consumer protection laws.
    7. Each College website must have at least one link to the college non-discrimination/EEO statements, privacy statement, TBR, and other applicable rules and regulations for accreditation.
    8. Website content should be accurate, timely, and be consistent with the College brand and editorial guidelines.
    9. College-affiliated websites must comply with any applicable College branding policies and standards as defined in TBR Policy 9.01.01.00, Branding and Trademarks.
    10. Due to relevancy, temporary, ad hoc, or expired websites should be deleted or archived promptly.
    11. Direct or indirect, implied or inferred institutional endorsement for a commercial third-party by the College is prohibited.
  3. Privacy and Data Collection
    1. All websites should follow applicable local, state, and federal data privacy laws, as well as privacy policies in place at TBR.
  4. Exemptions and Exceptions
    1. It is understood the College may have cross-functional duties between marketing and communications and that the website manager might fall under either in the organizational chart or in another unit. It is also understood that TCAT websites share responsibility with the System Office. Thus, Colleges are expected to comply with the intent outlined in this policy regardless of organizational design or title.
    2. Exemptions and exceptions outlined in the overarching Marketing and Communications Policy (9.01.00.00) apply.
  5. College Social Media
    Social networking sites such as Facebook, X, YouTube, Instagram and others are a means for individuals and institutions to engage in more personal conversations. For Pellissippi State, social networks are another opportunity to reach out to prospective and current students, alumni, faculty and staff, and other friends and supporters.Pellissippi State’s Marketing and Communications office is responsible for the College’s official social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social networking channels, but other departments, offices, organizations and units of the College maintain their own presence on social media sites. The Office of Marketing and Communications regularly monitors all College related accounts and is available for help should the need arise, but is not responsible for maintaining or managing the accounts.

    1. Scope of Policy for Social Media
      Policy 08:13:04 applies to all social media accounts created to represent official business and official departments, offices, programs, entities, centers, recurring festivals/series/events or other units of the College. Student-led organizations and groups are covered by this policy. Groups that are not permanent components or functions of Pellissippi State or that represent onetime events will not be permitted to establish a social media and/or blog presence. Inaugural events will not be permitted to have a social media and/or blog presence. Recurring events are permitted to have a social media and/or blog presence beginning in their second year. Personal social media accounts for employees and students of the College are exempt from this social media policy.
    2. Application of Social Media Policy
      1. All official units of the College must notify Marketing and Communications before creating any pages, accounts or profiles on any form of social media. The social media and web specialist must be given administrative privileges, including login details, to all social media and/or blog accounts. These administrative privileges will not be used to censor or edit posts on social media or blog sites. The social media and web specialist will use administrative privileges only in extreme cases of site abandonment, misuse or clear, repeated disregard for Pellissippi State policies. Before using administrative privileges or unpublishing a site, page or post, the social media and web specialist will work with each unit to try to fix the issues, engage followers per proper social media protocol and promote the College and individual unit. Administrative privileges also may be used in rare cases in which emergency information must be disseminated as rapidly as possible throughout all of the College’s social media sites.
      2. Should a Pellissippi State employee (who also is administrator of a social media account) leave the College for any reason or no longer wish to be an account administrator, it is the unit’s responsibility to designate another administrator and to remove the former employee’s/administrator’s permissions to the account. If administrative permissions are changed, the social media and web specialist must be notified.
      3. If a student worker, intern or other non-employee of Pellissippi State is given permission to post to social media sites on behalf of a Pellissippi State official unit, he or she will be held to the requirements of Policy 08:13:04.
      4. All users will use good judgment about content posted to unit accounts. Users will respect privacy and copyright laws and will not post any threatening or obscene content. Users will not post, link to or include any confidential information about the College, its employees or students. Account administrators are responsible for knowing and complying with all applicable Pellissippi State policies and federal, state and local laws and regulations.
      5. Photos and content shared on social media sites should be fair use images or have the creator’s permission to use before posting.
      6. Account administrators should not knowingly provide misleading or false information and will hold the College harmless for any claims resulting from false, misleading or incorrect content.
      7. All comments, links, photos, videos, etc., posted to the unit account must be on topic and relevant to the unit and its audience.
      8. Social media accounts and blogs should adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Pellissippi State’s Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination in Education and Employment Policy (00:03:00). Basic rules include but are not limited to:
        1. Use clear and concise language.
        2. Provide text equivalents to all non-text content. This includes adding alt-text to images and captions on videos. When it is not feasible to add alt-text, the description should be provided in the post itself.
      9. The designated account administrator is responsible for monitoring comments, shares and private messages sent to the account.
      10. Any inappropriate or questionable comments or messages should be discussed with the social media and web specialist before engaging with the sender. Screenshots should be taken of the entire message or comment before taking any action and should be shared with the social media and web specialist.
      11. On Facebook, all new accounts must be created as pages instead of as individual profiles or public groups. This allows others to easily “like” a page, rather than requesting to become friends or requesting to join the group.
      12. All Facebook pages and any other social media sites that allow reviews should disable the feature.
      13. Marketing and Communications is available to assist units initially in setting up social media accounts. Additional assistance may be provided as needed. However, units will ultimately be responsible for maintaining and updating their social media accounts.
      14. Each social media or blog page must show a level of activity and/or audience interaction in order to remain relevant to the College’s overall communications goals. Marketing and Communications can work with units to determine appropriate levels of activity, but accounts inactive for more than 90 days are subject to deactivation by Marketing and Communications.
      15. A unit’s account may share content and links to only other official College, TBR or other TBR College accounts. A unit’s account may like/follow/tag local organizations and businesses only if they are relevant to the account, but not celebrities, political or religious accounts or groups.
      16. Use of a social media or blog account affiliated or appearing to be directly affiliated with Pellissippi State for personal use, direct financial gain or commercial use is prohibited.
      17. Advertising on behalf of external vendors is prohibited on Pellissippi State social media channels.
      18. The official name of a unit’s social media account must be consistent with overall institutional branding, i.e., users must refer to the College as Pellissippi State Community College or Pellissippi State, not PSCC, PSTCC, Pelli or Pellissippi.
      19. The profile picture for a unit’s social media account must be consistent with overall institutional branding, including the use of Pellissippi State logos and graphics.
      20. In a crisis or highly charged situation, the official College social media channels may be used as vital communication channels. In the event of an emergency, social media administrators should share only what is posted on the College’s official main channels to ensure accuracy and a consistent message.
      21. For more information about social media and blog accounts, users should read the Web and Social Media Publishing Best Practices Guide.
  6. Employee Use of Social Media and Blogs Employees should exercise good judgment about content and respect privacy laws, including when sharing any content related to the College on their personal accounts by adhering to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA). Confidential information about the College, its staff or its students should not be shared or included on personal social media sites.

Authority: T.C.A. § 49-8-203

Source: TBR 9.01.04.00 and 9:01:05:00

Reviewed/Recommended: President’s Council, March 18, 1996
Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, March 26, 1996
Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, August 8, 1997
Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, April 27, 1998
Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, April 19, 2004
Editorial Changes: May 25, 2006, July 1, 2009
Reviewed/Recommended: President’s Staff, September 7, 2010
Approved: President Allen G. Edwards, September 7, 2010
Reviewed/Recommended: President’s Council, April 27, 2015
Approved: President L. Anthony Wise, Jr., April 27, 2015
Reviewed/Recommended: President’s Council, August 10, 2020
Approved: President L. Anthony Wise, Jr., August 10, 2020
Reviewed/Recommended: President’s Council, February 26, 2024
Approved: President L. Anthony Wise, Jr., February 26, 2024