Social Media Policy

At Notre Dame, we are committed to teaching, learning, and discovery, and we wish to thoughtfully engage in conversation and debate about topics that are relevant in the world today. Social media extends traditional channels of engagement and transparency and opens a two-way conversation that can tell the Notre Dame story and promote University news and research.

This social media policy handbook is intended to be used as a guide for anyone running an account representing any aspect of the University on any social media platform. It seeks to outline acceptable use of social media by the ND community. This does not apply to personal accounts created by ND faculty, staff, student employees, or interns, though there may be information found within that could assist you in creating a professional persona online.

Remember, the online spaces where you engage are visible to all. The public will perceive you as representing Notre Dame—to them, you are the University. In order to be a positive steward of Notre Dame, it will be helpful for you to understand social media and what it means to engage online, the risks you can anticipate, and how to deal with problems. Respect, professionalism, and awareness are key to our brand voice.

What Is Social Media?

Broadly defined, social media encompasses any online platform or channel for user-generated content that allows anyone to publish and access information, collaborate on a common effort, and build relationships. Primarily, it refers to but is not limited to platforms such as Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Tumblr, Snapchat, and YouTube..

Professional Use

Administration

If you are using social media in any capacity to represent a college, institute, department, or other component of the University, use professional contact information (ideally a shared departmental email address) to create the account. If you are using social media for non-work-related purposes, or for a blend of professional and personal information, please use personal contact information when creating the account. Remember, many of these social platforms only allow one account per email address, and you don’t want to be unable to create a personal account or a professional account because an email address is already in use for other purposes.

Each official social media channel should have no fewer than two full-time staff member account administrators who have access to the username and password or are added as full administrators on an account.

Administrators of social media sites on behalf of the University must adhere to all University policies, especially:

• Copyright Information
• Faculty Handbook
• FERPA/Privacy Policy
• Information Technology Policies
• Visual Identity Guidelines
• FAQ: The University and Political Campaigns
• Crisis Communications Policy

Administrators of social media sites on behalf of the University must also adhere to the Social Media Brand Guidelines.

Crisis Communications Policy

In the event of an emergency on campus, such as inclement weather or a campus crisis, the Office of Public Affairs and Communications will be in close communication with the Office of Campus Safety and any divisions or departments directly affected. Any crisis management messaging will originate with an NDAlert shared directly to the University’s Facebook and X/Twitter accounts at the same time as an alert goes out via campus phones, emails, and text messages.

If a crisis does not rise to the level of activating the NDAlert system, the University will originate messaging about any crisis, and other social media accounts on campus should assist in disseminating messaging by sharing these posts. Make sure to regularly check the Notre Dame accounts for messages that you can retweet or share on your own channel to ensure safety and awareness.

Do not post new information on your own channels. Lead followers asking questions to either nd.edu or the University’s social media channels. If you have posts scheduled to be shared, please pause them immediately.

Password Administration

While many social media accounts require you to use personal login information to access brand pages, it is still a good idea to follow OIT’s Strong Password Standards.

If you need to share password information, please use 1Password to keep the accounts secure. Similarly, if you log in to a personal account to access the page, make sure that at least one other person at the University has full administrative access to the Notre Dame account through their own login.

In addition to maintaining strong, confidential passwords, you must turn on Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for any account that is linked to a Notre Dame–administered page:

• Instructions for X/Twitter
• Instructions for Instagram
• Instructions for Facebook
• Instructions for Linkedin

Remember, no legitimate service will ever ask you to provide your 2FA code via email, text, or phone call. Do not share the code with anyone, as that gives a third party exactly what they need to bypass the security measure.