Compliance

Communicating on behalf of a public university brings with it special responsibilities, even on social media channels. Keep these things in mind to maintain compliance with university and state policies, regulations and laws:

Keep confidential matters private

Do not post proprietary information about NC State, including information about students, alumni or employees.  Remember that most records related to students are protected from disclosure by FERPA, and disclosing any personally identifiable student education records through social media is a violation of FERPA. Information collected in connection with research may be protected under a nondisclosure agreement, research protocol or other applicable law or agreement.

Archive your content

As a public agency, NC State University has a responsibility to retain records for public inspection. That responsibility extends to content posted on official university social media channels. While this effort will be centrally managed by University Communications, its archival capability is currently limited to content posted to, messaged from or passing over officially recognized Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. For all other social media channels, archiving is the responsibility of the account administrator until such time as University Communications’ central archival capability grows to include additional social media channels.  Account administrators will be informed when additional central archiving capability becomes available.

Get approval before endorsing any product, vendor or site

Do not use social media to endorse or promote any product, vendor, or site unless you have obtained permission to do so.  For more information, review the university’s regulation on Use of the University’s Names, Marks, Symbols, Images, and Copyrights and the Trademark Licensing Rules.

Respect trademarks and copyright

Always give people proper credit for their work, and make sure you have the right to use something before you share it.  Secure written permission prior to using/incorporating any copyrighted or proprietary materials except when such material is covered under Fair Use provisions. If you are unsure whether certain content is protected by intellectual property laws, contact the Director of the Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center or the Office of General Counsel.

Keep in mind other university policies

These guidelines do not affect other university policies, regulations, or rules that might apply to the use of social media, including but not limited to the Computer Use Policy; Computer Use Regulation; Copyright Regulation; Use of the University’s Names, Marks, Symbols, Images, and Copyrights; Trademark Licensing Rules; University Record Retention and Disposition Regulations; and Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Policy.