0353-2545622  |  99334 02478

Search

0353-2545622  |  99334 02478

1. Introduction

Today’s emerging communications technologies afford us unprecedented opportunities to learn about what is going on in the world, share our ideas on important issues, and promote our events and accomplishments. Along with these opportunities comes a responsibility to engage social media in ways that not only support our institutional values but also enhance and protect our institutional brand in living upto the motto Flamma ardens et lucens- a flame that enlightens and enlivens.

Salesian College recognizes the numerous benefits and opportunities that social media presents. We actively use social media to disseminate information about academic activities of the College to the general public, success stories and to communicate research and enhance the College’s public image online. Therefore, College actively encourages the students by keeping in mind the integrity of the institution to make effective, appropriate and responsible use of social media channels to build a positive public image for the college to benefit the College fraternity in the long run.

Despite the opportunities presented by social media, there are also risks. Social media allows individuals to communicate with a potentially huge audience, and sometimes its informality can encourage us to be less cautious than we would be using other more traditional methods of communication and interaction.

This policy for the students, support staff and faculty and provides information on the appropriate use of social media when connected, or linked in some way, to their status as a member of the college, or when directly or indirectly referencing to the college in any way.

For the purpose of this policy, the term ‘Social Media’ is used to describe channels dedicated to community-based input, interactions, content sharing and collaboration. Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, social curation and wikis are among the different types of social media. They currently include, but are not limited to, Facebook (and Messenger), Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Allo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, and Google+, Google reviews, Quora.

This policy applies to social media communications made both on public and private forums. While posts added to public forums can be seen by any member of the public from the date of publication, students are asked to remember that posts added to private forums can also be shared publically by others. There have been a number of high-profile cases where students across the country have been disciplined after offensive comments, made on private messaging services such as WhatsApp, were captured and subsequently shared. With this in mind, students should remember that action can be taken by the College if behaviour failing to meet policy guidelines is identified either publically or privately.

2. Creating a Social Media Account/ Channel in the name of the College

To create a Salesian College social media account, contact the Office of Communications headed by the Principal and provide them with the following information:
1) Name of the unit or individual making the request
2) Social media platform(s) you want to use (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
3) Purpose for creating the account
4) Name and contact information of the account administrator (a faculty or staff member, ideally the head of the department) who will be responsible for the account.

The Office of Communications will use this information to ensure duplicate accounts are not created and that all pages associated with the college are similarly branded and consistently maintained. This includes following the guidelines for naming your account and using institutional logos and graphics.All social media pages created for Salesian College are the property of the college and should not be deleted or altered without first contacting the Office of Communications.

3. Students use of College accounts

i. Some students may contribute to the university’s official social media activities as part of their role, for example taking over the Snapchat or Instagram of facebook accounts, logging, writing blogs or running an official Twitter account. Students should be aware that while contributing to the college’s social media activities they are representing the College.
ii. Misuse of official College accounts may lead to suspension and, following a disciplinary committee, may lead to expulsion; students will not be eligible for readmission to the College at any time in the future.

4. Students’ responsibilities

Students are encouraged to be mindful of how their identity, statements or views appears online and are reminded that future employers and industry contacts may view social media profiles when hiring to get an idea of a candidate’s character, personality or employability. Students should therefore be conscious of making posts today that may hinder them, for whatever reason, in the future.

Students may find starting College to be a good time to clean up their existing social media accounts and start to transition to a more professional appearance.

Students should check the terms and conditions of a social media account and/or website before uploading material to it; by posting material to social media accounts and/or websites, ownership rights and control of the content may be released. For this reason, it is important to exercise caution in sharing all information, especially where the information, expressly or by implication or innuendo, identifies a third party.

Students must be aware of the potential impact and permanence of anything posted online. Therefore, students should avoid posting anything that is opposed to public domain / public policy in the public domain.