Social Media Use Policy

To provide best-practice expectations and limitations concerning the personal and professional use of social media where an affiliation or relationship to Cambrian College (“the College”) is known, identified, or presumed. To ensure the use of social media is conducted in a manner that accurately portrays, promotes, and protects the College’s interests, activities, values, and reputation. And to mitigate and respond to risks posed by the inappropriate use of social media.

All college employees, students, and volunteers.

Account holder: an employee or student representative who is responsible for Affiliated Social Account access and maintenance, including the posting of content and engaging with others on behalf of the College or their program, department, or unit though social media.

Affiliated social media account: a social media account with a clear connection or affiliation to a Cambrian College program, department, or unit, but does not represent the institution as a whole.

Institutional social media account: a corporate social media account (e.g. Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, etc.) managed by the Digital Media department, which represents the institution as a whole. It is the official social media account of the College. Institutional channels also include the official college website, and the official email account of the Office of the President.

Personal social media account: a social media account that is not affiliated with nor represents the College in any capacity.

Volunteer: a person who freely offers themselves to perform a service without pay.

1. College Brand

1.1. Cambrian College encourages its employees to use social media as a means of engaging with collaborators and the broader community. Social media engagement allows the college to build and maintain relationships, grow public trust, and strengthen brand reputation. As such, Cambrian’s various institutional and affiliated social media accounts represent the brand of Cambrian College at all times.

1.2. Individuals are responsible for what may be communicated, downloaded, or accessed via their participation in social media.

1.3. Anyone posting content on either the institutional social media accounts or affiliated social media accounts must ensure the content positively reflects the College’s brand reputation and adheres to all relevant college policies.

1.4. Employees should refrain from using the College’s institutional and affiliated social media accounts to legitimize personal opinions, particularly on matters that could alienate, offend, or negatively impact Cambrian’s interests and/or the interests of our partners.

1.5. Account holders for all affiliated social media accounts must ensure that they are maintained and reviewed on a regular basis to confirm that all content meets the expectations set out in this policy.

1.6. The official Cambrian College logo must only be used on affiliated social media accounts with the written permission of the marketing, digital media, and communications departments. No alteration of the logo or other official branding materials is permitted. The use of the official college logo and other branding materials is not permitted on personal accounts unless they are a part of the content being shared from institutional or affiliated accounts.

2. Permission

2.1. Departments or units of the College seeking to create an institutional or affiliated social media account must have the prior written approval of the Director, Marketing, Recruitment and Student Success. The Digital Media Manager (and/or designate) must also be included as an administrator on all college institutional and affiliated social media accounts, with full rights and privileges.

2.2. Individuals are not permitted to post personal information about other college employees, students, volunteers, or community members unless the parties involved expressly permit it.

2.3. Individuals are not permitted to post marketing or promotional pictures and videos on institutional, affiliated, or personal social media accounts without approval, but can repost what has been posted.

2.4. College employees and volunteers are not permitted to post photos or videos of other individuals and colleagues except when the person(s) portrayed are incidental to the photo (not the subject of the photo, such as a crowd scene) or the person is part of a legitimate public event (e.g. news conference, convocation). Students who post images of their friends are excluded from this policy.

2.5. College employees are not permitted to post individual student and colleague work (work not meant for public display) on institutional, affiliated, or personal social media accounts without express permission of the author. All copyright and privacy legislation must be respected, and sources cited as appropriate.

2.6. No advertising or commercial endorsements are permitted on the College’s institutional or affiliated social media accounts. Special exceptions are only made with the approval of the Marketing, Digital Media, and Communications departments.

2.7. Individuals posting content on institutional or affiliated social media accounts and who wish to tag other accounts must only do so with the permission of those account holders.

3. Personal Social Media Accounts

3.1. College employees using personal social media are accountable for any content that compromises the College’s reputation and interests. Employees using personal social media accounts must adhere to all relevant college policies (e.g. Code of Conduct Policy).

4. Emergency Events

4.1. In an emergency (e.g. natural disaster, dangerous situation), individuals are advised to refrain from posting updates or comments of the unfolding situation for the purposes of confidentiality and safety of all involved. Official updates will come via the College’s institutional social media accounts and the Cambrian website.

5. Media Inquiries

5.1. Individuals of the College must refer all media inquiries and requests for comments/interviews to the Communications Department.

6. Enforcement

6.1. College employees who fail to follow the guidelines set out in this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

Vice President, External Partnerships and Strategic Enrolment is responsible for:

• Ensuring compliance and implementation of this policy.
• Ensuring the development, review, and availability of this policy.

Marketing, Digital Media and Communications are responsible for:

• Informing the College community about this policy and providing any additional materials and training to ensure the policy is applied appropriately.
• Approving all institutional and affiliated social media accounts.
• Managing all institutional social media accounts.
• Ensuring all institutional and affiliated social media accounts adhere to college brand guidelines.
• Approving the use of all college branding materials on Institutional and affiliated social media accounts.

Administrators are responsible for:

• Ensuring direct reports are aware of and adhere to this policy.
• Investigating potential breaches of this policy and taking the necessary action to mitigate the associated risks.

Employees, students, and volunteers are responsible for:

• Being familiar with this policy.
• Ensuring compliance with this policy when using social media.