Personal Site Guidelines
If you create pages or accounts to conduct university business as an individual, continue to use your own name and profile photograph (do not use the official branding bar). Be sure to identify yourself as a university employee in the biography/information section of the site. For example, admission counselors may create Twitter accounts using their own names and photos for the purpose of working with prospective and admitted students.
Personal accounts for faculty, staff or students for a nonuniversity purpose cannot use the name “UW-Stevens Point” on their account or social media page, and must not use the university branding bar or any other university logos or marks.
Be authentic. Never hide your identity for the purpose of promoting UW-Stevens Point through social media. Do not use UW-Stevens Point in your Twitter handle if your account will be personal. Do not communicate with the media or other external audiences in an official capacity when you intend for your account to be personal.
Please be clear that you are sharing your views as a member of the higher education community, not as a formal representative of UW-Stevens Point. This parallels media relations practices at UW-Stevens Point.
A common practice among individuals who write about the industry in which they work is to include a disclaimer on their site, usually on their “About Me” page. If you discuss higher education on your own social media site, we suggest you include a sentence similar to this:
“The views expressed on this [blog, website, account] are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of UW-Stevens Point.”
Including such a disclaimer is particularly important if you are a department chair or administrator.
Link back. You are welcome to link from your social media site to uwsp.edu.
Don't be a mole. Never pretend to be someone else and post about UW-Stevens Point. Tracking tools enable supposedly anonymous posts to be traced back to their authors. There have been several high-profile and embarrassing cases of company executives anonymously posting about their own organizations.
Take the high ground. If you identify your affiliation with UW-Stevens Point in your comments, readers will associate you with the university, even with the disclaimer that your views are your own. Remember you're most likely to build a high-quality following if you discuss ideas and situations civilly.
Be aware of liability. You are legally liable for what you post on your own site and on the sites of others. Individual bloggers have been held liable for commentary deemed to be proprietary, copyrighted, defamatory, libelous or obscene (as defined by the courts). Employers are increasingly conducting web searches on job candidates before extending offers. Be sure that what you post today will not come back to haunt you.
Don't use the UW-Stevens Point logo or make endorsements. Do not use the UW-Stevens Point logo, athletic logo or any other UW-Stevens Point marks or images on your personal online sites. Do not use UW-Stevens Point's name to promote or endorse any product, cause or political party or candidate.
Protect your identity. While you want to be honest about yourself, don't provide personal information that scam artists or identity thieves could use against you. Don't list your home address or telephone number or your work telephone or email address. It is a good idea to create a separate email address that is used only with your social media account.
Follow a code of ethics. There are numerous codes of ethics for bloggers and other active participants in social media, all of which will help you participate responsibly in online communities. If you have your own social media site, you may wish to post your own code of ethics.
For examples, see:
Monitor comments. Most people who maintain social media sites welcome comments—it builds credibility and community. However, you can set your site so that you can review and approve comments before they appear. This allows you to respond in a timely way to comments. It also allows you to delete spam comments and to block any individuals who repeatedly post offensive or frivolous comments.
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