Policy
About
Social media has become one of the most important and valuable means of communication in the world. The Higher Education sector has begun to make the most of these communications channels, with many universities adopting social media presences that allow them to engage quickly and easily with their key audiences – in particular prospective and current students, staff, alumni and external partners and stakeholders.
However, social media – and its use by larger organisations and companies – is still in its infancy. To ensure the correct and proper use of social media by an organisation of the size and complexity of Brunel, it is essential that usage is governed by a University-wide Policy, agreed by Senate.
The University expects all who participate in Brunel-affiliated social media to understand how to use the technology appropriately and to read and follow the Policy set out on this page. Participators should also note that they have a legal responsibility to accurately and fairly represent the University in any public online space, and are expected to uphold the integrity of the University.
If you have any queries about the policy, please contact the Communications Team.
Setting up a new site/group
Before setting up a new social media group or site you should notify the Communications Team, who will be able to offer guidance and ensure that your group is listed as one of our official social media presences.
Please see the 'Getting started' tab for more information on planning a new account and deciding whether a separate group or site would be more or less effective than working with the central University channels.
Existing sites/groups
If you already run a social media site or group, please ensure that the Communications Team is aware of your activity and has the full contact details for the person(s) who manages the site. The team maintains a list of all known University official social media presences; if you are not on this list, please contact the Communications Team to be added.
Visual identity and naming
All social media sites/groups affiliated with the University must be appropriately labelled and must present a consistent visual identity in order to reflect the subject or theme of the site/group and to help audiences understand the site/group’s relationship to Brunel University.
Sites/groups should refer to the full term ‘Brunel University’ either in their names/titles or in their descriptions.
All channels maintained by a School, a subject area within a School, or an administration department should use the Brunel University logo as their profile picture, on one of a set of agreed block colour backgrounds: for Schools and subject areas, this should be the School colour; for all administration departments, this should be the standard blue. An approved set of logo profile pictures in different sizes for each of the common channels is available for download - please contact the Communications Team who will supply the download link.
Other visual elements, such as backgrounds and templates including logos for individual areas, can be provided on request for the more common social media channels.
For additional advice and support on creating or editing the visual identity for your area, please contact the Communications Team.
The University reserves the right to require that administrators alter their social media activity including visual identity if it is considered to be detrimental to Brunel’s public reputation, if the graphics are not of the desired resolution or quality, or if the description does not clearly state the group’s connection to Brunel University.
Personal social media accounts connected to your professional business at Brunel
If you are a member of staff with a personal social media account that you also use professionally and/or in connection with your role at Brunel (eg to promote your academic work, or to represent your profession or area), the following wording or similar should be included in the brief description/'about me' section:
‘The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Brunel University.’
Personal identity on social media
If you are using your personal profile (such as on Facebook or LinkedIn) to administer a Brunel site, please take precautions to prevent your personal information becoming mixed with professional content. Alternatively, you could consider setting up ‘professional persona’ social media accounts separate from any personal presence you may have, to avoid accidental cross-posting of personal and University-related information.
Using social media for learning and teaching purposes
The University encourages the use of social media to support learning and module delivery. Before using social media for these purposes, please contact the University’s Learning Technology Team to check whether this functionality is already available as part of Blackboard Learn, our Virtual Learning Environment, which now offers many advanced learning opportunities.
Please note that Blackboard Learn must be used for the submission of all assessed work that is required to be submitted online (according to School Policy), by students at all levels. Assignments that form all or part of a student’s module or degree assessment cannot be submitted via social media such as YouTube, Flickr or blogging platforms, or any other non-University system.
If you wish to use external social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter to deliver modules or for broader student communications, please take particular care to keep your personal and professional presences separate. We strongly recommend the creation of a separate professional or departmental account, accessible to more than one member of staff, for any communications with students. For more information, please see the above policies on ‘Personal social media accounts connected to your professional business at Brunel’ and ‘Personal identity on social media’.
Relevant University policies
A number of wider Brunel University policies also apply to the use of social media. Anyone with responsibility for maintaining a social media site or group on behalf of Brunel University should be familiar with the following policies:
