Social Media

As of September 2011, the Office of Marketing and Communications maintains official presences for Sarah Lawrence College on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and Foursquare. At present, we focus most heavily on Facebook; this mirrors the usage trends of our audience, and for that purpose (and to address the most common request we get from departments on campus), this document deals exclusively with the policies and procedures to follow when establishing a departmental page or group on Facebook. If you are interested in establishing a departmental presence on Twitter or any other social media channel, please contact the Communications Project Manager.

The official Sarah Lawrence College Facebook page was established in July 2009 and since that time has grown to an active community of 10,000+ members. While the content is primarily planned, developed, and posted by the Communications Project Manager, input from all members of the community is always welcome.

Since “fans” of the SLC Facebook page span all areas of our community – current and prospective students, their families, alumni, faculty, staff, and anyone with an interest in or affinity for SLC – we strive to engage them in a way that interests all and alienates none. For this reason, we understand that departments across campus might wish to have a more targeted way to reach their specific constituents. Therefore, we encourage the creation of other Facebook pages and groups that represent Sarah Lawrence College – we just ask that you follow a few simple steps to ensure that our mission and values are being properly represented.

Before You Get Started

First, it’s important to understand Sarah Lawrence College’s terms and conditions of creating and administering a Page or Group:

Official groups or pages must be supervisor ‐ approved. Pages require input and maintenance to be effective. If you feel there’s a need and value to generating a group or page for an area of SLC not presently represented, please discuss with your supervisor before allocating time or resources to the endeavor.
Once you have your supervisor’s approval, you must alert the Communications Project Manager in the Office of Communications and Marketing that you intend to create a group or page. This will ensure that our office is aware of all social media presences representing the College.
It is imperative that you create a Fan Page or Group, NOT a profile page. Please refer to the sections in this document titled How to Create a Fan Page or How to Create a Facebook Group to ensure that you are creating a presence that is within Facebook’s guidelines.
All pages and groups must have a minimum of two administrators assigned. If an administrator leaves the College, they will be removed as an administrator and another person assigned in their place (it is always incumbent on the remaining administrator to remove as an admin a person who has left or should no longer have such privileges). If you do not have two people in your department available to serve as an administrator, you may request that the Communications Project Manager serve as your second admin. In any event, you must provide the Communications Project Manager with the names of each admin for your page or group. The Communications Project Manager reserves the right to request to be an admin of your page or group, and this request must be granted.
If you have created a page, you must make the main Sarah Lawrence College Facebook page one of your page’s favorites. To do this, simply visit http://www.facebook.com/sarahlawrencecollege, “Like” the page, and then click “Add to my page’s favorites” on the left‐hand side. In turn, provided it is appropriate, your page will be listed as a favorite on the official Sarah Lawrence College Facebook page, which will increase your visibility.
Under no circumstances can departmental or group social media sites administered by SLC be used for direct fundraising solicitations without prior approval from the Office of Advancement.
Any on‐campus events announced on College social media sites must first be scheduled with College Events and entered into the College’s event management system.
The Vice President for Marketing and Communications may at any time, in the interests of the College, suspend or block access to a department’s social media site if it is determined that the site contains inappropriate content or content not relevant to the mission of the College, or the site is moribund.

Some Tips on Maintaining a Successful Page or Group

Monitor the activity on your page or in your group every day – twice a day is best. This doesn’t mean you have to post every day or multiple times a day – it just means you have to keep an eye on what others are posting.
Get rid of the junk: It happens rarely, but in open forums such as these, you will occasionally run into trolls or others looking to cause a ruckus; using your best judgment in these cases is key to making sure your page or group doesn’t inadvertently damage the reputation of the College. If you encounter a situation you are unsure about how to handle, feel free to consult the Communications Project Manager for advice.
- Definitely delete any comments, photos, videos, or other posts in your group or on your page if they contain:
  - Any language that is threatening, derogatory, demeaning, slanderous, or harassing to any member of the community or the College as a whole. Any such language targeted at individuals or specific campus groups should be reported to the Director of Public Safety immediately.
  - Anything that violates or depicts violation of a law.
  - Overly biased or obviously partisan political activity – don’t forget that even though it’s not necessarily the case, people can infer an endorsement from the College of something that’s been posted on your page or in your group.
  - Attempts to sell goods or services or other activity that seeks personal financial profit.
- You have the right—and responsibility—to block any user who exhibits any of the above behavior; no prior warning is necessary
Remember the lines between your personal Facebook presence and your college Facebook presence. It’s easy for these lines to blur, as we are people who operate in different capacities in the world of Facebook. Just be diligent about not injecting your personal opinions or activities into the page or group you maintain for the College. To ensure a consistent look and feel and brand identity across SLC Facebook sites, please use familiar/current SLC logos, taglines, colors, and typeface when developing the sites. Files containing logos, taglines and related materials are available from the Communications Project Manager .
Administrators or other college employees with access to these pages should never post FERPA‐protected student information without first getting students’ consent. Please review the College’s statement about FERPA.

A Facebook Group or a Facebook Page? Which one is right for you?

The following information about Pages and Groups comes directly from Facebook:

Pages allow real organizations, businesses, celebrities, and brands to communicate broadly with people who like them. Pages may only be created and managed by official representatives.

Groups provide a closed space for small groups of people to communicate about shared interests. Groups can be created by anyone.

Other differences include:

Groups

Privacy: In addition to an open setting, more privacy settings are available for groups. In secret and closed groups, posts are only visible to group members.
Audience: Group members must be approved or added by other members. When a group reaches a certain size, some features are limited. The most useful groups tend to be the ones you create with small groups of people you know.
Communication: In groups, members receive notifications by default when any member posts in the group. Group members can participate in chats, upload photos to shared albums, collaborate on group docs, and invite all members to group events.

Important Note About Profiles

Remember, you’re never to create a profile for the College or any department. Profile pages are strictly for individual use, and should never be used to represent anything related to the College. This would violate Facebook policy and put the presence you have worked so hard to establish at risk of being permanently shut down.

How to Create a Facebook Page

Facebook’s Help section contains an easy, step‐by‐step way to create a page. Start by clicking the “+Create Page” button in the top right corner.

Here are a few guidelines to follow when creating your page:

When selecting a category for your page, choose Company, Organization, or Institution, and then choose Education from the sub‐menu
You are free to choose a profile image for your page, but there are two things to keep in mind:
- Choose something that is official ‐looking, relevant to your topic, and recognizable as Sarah Lawrence College
- Never use a profile image that is or has been used by the official Sarah Lawrence College Facebook page (to see which images are off limits, view the Profile Pictures album on the SLC Facebook page)
When first creating your page, it will likely be a work in progress. You might want to keep it private for a while, until you get it to look and feel exactly as you want it to. To do this, click on the Edit Page button on your page, and in the Manage Permissions section, check “Page Visibility: Only admins can see this page.” That will keep it private until you are ready to uncheck that box and share it with the world!
Once your page is built, public, and populated with some content, be sure to alert the Communications Project Manager so we can, if appropriate, promote it via the main SLC Facebook page (and add it to favorites!)

Additional Resources:

Mashable has a really handy entry on how to create a page
If you run into questions as you create and populate your page, the Facebook Help section is a valuable first‐stop resource. Just type in your question, and you’ll likely get a list of answers that can get you on your way.

How to Create a Facebook Group

Facebook’s Help section contains an easy, step‐by‐step way to create a group.

Here are a few guidelines to follow when creating your group:

You are free to choose a profile image for your group, but there are two things to keep in mind:
- Choose something that is official ‐looking, relevant to your topic, and recognizable as Sarah Lawrence College
- Never use a profile image that is or has been used by the official Sarah Lawrence College Facebook page (to see which images are off limits, view the Profile Pictures album in the SLC Facebook page)

Additional Resource:

If you run into questions as you create and populate your page, the Facebook Help section is a valuable first‐stop resource. Just type in your question, and you’ll likely get a list of answers that can get you on your way.