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Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are essential tools in supporting and promoting Gateway on campus and in the community. Gateway Technical College’s official social media channels are managed by the Marketing and Communications department. 

Official Gateway social media accounts include: 

Accounts affiliated with Gateway

Gateway has developed a policy to properly portray, promote and protect the college and to assist Gateway entities in creating and managing their own social media accounts. This policy applies to Gateway faculty and staff and must be used in connection with social media accounts associated with Gateway, its programs, offices and student organizations. This policy requires that: 

  • Officially recognized Gateway social media accounts must be reviewed and approved by the Marketing and Communications department through an application process.
  • Each officially-recognized social media account will have responsible administrators assigned.
  • Inappropriate, offensive, libelous and illegal content may be removed by Gateway employees identified as account administrators or at the direction of the Marketing and Communications department.
  • Gateway’s Social Media User Guide must be followed.

Policy Application

This policy applies to social media accounts by Gateway employees for official business purposes of the college, including faculty groups, departments, programs, student organizations, entities, etc. Examples of the communication media included under this policy are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat and blogs. 

Gateway student organizations officially recognized by Student Life that wish to create social media accounts must have the support of and be overseen by a Gateway faculty/staff advisor who will serve as the required account administrator and complete the necessary application paperwork. Students cannot be named as page administrators or post content as a representative of the college.

Gateway employees are expected to follow the same standards online as they would in the workplace as outlined by the Employee Handbook. The same laws, professional expectations and guidelines for interacting with students, alumni, community members, media and fellow Gateway employees apply online as well. Employees are fully responsible for anything they post on social media sites on behalf of the college. 

Procedures

Application process

 Gateway employees interested in establishing a social media account must begin by reviewing the social media user guide and completing an application form. 

Account Administration

All social media accounts officially recognized by Gateway must have at least one Gateway employee, preferably two, as administrators at all times. In addition, the initial page creator must include a designee of the Marketing and Communications department as an additional page administrator and/or share necessary login information. Page administrators must share their page URL with the Director of Marketing. 

The Marketing and Communications department is not responsible for creating content for  program-level social media accounts. The administrator designation will enable the Marketing and Communications department to properly track the college’s social media presence and respond quickly in the event of a problem, such as the unavailability of the staff member who has control of the page. 

If the Gateway employee(s) designated as the account administrator(s) should leave the college or no longer wishes to serve as the account administrator, it is the responsibility of the appropriate dean or vice president to designate another Gateway employee as administrator and notify the Marketing and Communications department.

Advertising and Boosted Content

Account administrators should not purchase social media advertising or boost content on their page. All boosted content and ads should be coordinated and executed by the Marketing department. 

Account image

All applicants for officially-recognized social media accounts are required to submit the profile image for each account as part of the application process to ensure that Gateway’s brand standards are maintained. If assistance is needed in creating an appropriate image, please submit a Marketing and Communications ticket. 

Account name

All applicants for officially recognized social media accounts are required to include the account name for each account as part of the application process to ensure Gateway’s branding standards are maintained. It is preferred that the account name include the full name “Gateway Technical College” or “Gateway” (E.g., Gateway Technical College Multicultural Program). 

Account photo/video sharing

Account administrators are responsible for obtaining an official Gateway Technical College photo/video release from any students featured in photos and videos posted to officially recognized social media accounts. A copy of Gateway’s official photo release can be found in the Additional Infomation section at the bottom of this page. 

Do not download or use any other images from the internet. Images taken off the web are copyrighted, and their use could result in legal action for the college. If you are looking for stock imagery to post on your official Gateway social media page, please submit a Marketing and Communications Support Ticket. 

Account disclaimer

All officially recognized social media accounts (excluding Twitter and Instagram) are required to include the following disclaimer in their page/profile information:

“Gateway accepts no responsibility for any content generated by users and posted on this page or linked to from this page. Gateway students posting to this page are subject to Gateway policies including the Student Code of Conduct and Digital Communications  policy. Gateway reserves the right to remove content from the page at its discretion for any reason.”

Managing content

Account administrators are responsible for managing and monitoring content on their social media accounts. Administrators are responsible for removing any content that may violate the guidelines detailed below or established Gateway conduct policies. 

  • Maintain confidentiality: Do not post confidential information about Gateway Technical College, its students, employees or alumni. Employees must adhere to all Gateway, state and federal policies regarding privacy and confidentiality including but not limited to FERPA. 
  • Respect copyright: Material protected by copyright cannot be used on Gateway Technical College social media sites.
  • Appropriate posting: Do not post or allow content posted by others to remain that is obscene, threatening, defamatory, libelous, illegal, discriminatory or in violation of intellectual property rights or privacy laws. Account administrators are prohibited from selling goods for personal profit and expressing personal political views.
  • Account deactivation: Should an account administrator no longer wish to serve as administrator, they should work with the appropriate dean or vice president to find a replacement. If a suitable replacement cannot be found, or if it is determined the social media account is no longer necessary the account administrator must contact the Marketing and Communications department. Marketing and Communications representatives will work with the account administrator to properly deactivate the account.
    The Marketing and Communications department reserves the right to deactivate a social media account if it is no longer being maintained and/or is no longer supporting the college’s mission and goals. Every effort will be made to work with account administrators and the appropriate dean/vice president to keep the account active and notification will be made before any account is deactivated. 
  • Existing accounts: Account administrators for any existing social media account that has been established to represent the college, its programs, organizations or students are required to submit a social media account application and add a designee of the Marketing and Communications department as an account administrator. Existing accounts are also required to adhere to the Gateway Social Media Policy and its procedures.