Policies and Procedures

To be in compliance with various laws, the following content restrictions apply to accounts representing and managed by Weber State University. This does not include personal content on privately maintained social media accounts.

A. Confidential Information

No one shall post confidential information about WSU students, employees or alumni. When posting materials, applicable federal requirements such as FERPA and HIPPA, as well as NCAA regulations, and all applicable university confidentiality policies, must be followed at all times. (See PPM 10-1 and 10-2)

Social media is defined as media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media include, but are not limited to, blogs, podcasts, discussion forums, RSS feeds, video sharing (e.g., YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat), microblogging sites (e.g., Twitter), and social networking sites (e.g., Facebook and LinkedIn).

B. Copyright and Fair Use

When posting non-original materials, be mindful of the copyright and intellectual property rights of the original materials. Copyright law should be followed. Sharing posts containing photo and video is encouraged, but downloading someone else’s photo or video and sharing it on your platform without proper attribution is not OK unless you have permission. For further clarification of copyright and fair use law, see PPM 5-41 and 5-43, and visit the U.S. Copyright Office website.

C. Appropriate Content

Weber State University’s official social media accounts are to be regarded as a limited public forum for discussion of topics posted by Weber State University. Postings that are unrelated to those topics, violate the law or University policy, or host website policies, including threatening, obscene, defamatory, or unprotected speech, and spreading of misinformation are prohibited. Posters are encouraged to be civil in their engagement. Dialogue is strengthened when ideas are discussed rather than people.

D. Use of the Weber State Brand Identity

Official university accounts must appropriately use WSU’s official logos and/or marks. Any WSU logos or wordmarks used by departments or programs as an avatar for a social media account must be approved and unmodified, as directed by the Weber State University Branding Guide. Feel free to contact Marketing & Communications to get correct digital versions of the appropriate logo or wordmark.

E. Free Speech and Removal of Content

Weber State is committed to the protection of free speech, but reserves the right to remove content posted to auxiliary WSU social media accounts if it violates the above policies. All WSU-related social media accounts also reserve the right to remove content posted to their pages by third parties, including, but not limited to; advertisements, spam, threats and off-topic content, and language governed by PPM 3-32 in regards to discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct.