Perry County School District 32
Social Media Best Practices For Staff • June 2012
Social media are powerful communications tools that have a significant impact on organizational and
professional reputations. Because they blur the lines between personal voice and institutional voice, Perry
County School District 32 has crafted the following guidelines to help clarify how best to enhance and
protect
personal and professional reputations when participating in social media. Social media are defined as media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using
highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Examples include but are not limited to LinkedIn,
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and MySpace. Both in professional and institutional roles, district staff members need to follow the same behavioral
standards online as they would in real life. The same laws, professional expectations, and guidelines for
interacting with students, parents, alumni, donors, media, and other district constituents apply online as in
the real world. District staff members are responsible for, and may be legally liable for, anything they post
to social media sites. School buildings, groups, etc. should use the official
District fan page. Staff members are reminded to always:
• Link back to the District Website: Whenever possible, link back to the district Website. Ideally, posts
should be very brief and include a link to an article or page on the district Webiste. When linking
to a news article about District 32, check first to see whether you can link to a release on our
own site instead of an outside publication or other media outlet.
• Mandated reporting: District personnel are mandated reporters and as such will report suspected abuse
and endangerment of children to the appropriate authorities in compliance with all national, state
and local laws. This applies to knowledge gained through social media sites.
• Protect confidential and proprietary information: Do not post confidential or proprietary information
about Perry County School District 32, students, employees or alumni. Employees must still
follow the applicable federal requirements such as FERPA and HIPAA. Adhere to all applicable
district privacy and confidentiality policies. Employees who share confidential information do so
at the risk of disciplinary action or termination.
• Respect copyright and fair use: When posting, be mindful of the copyright and intellectual
property rights of others and of the district.
• Don’t use District 32 logos for endorsements: Do not use the District 32 Pirate or any school logo or
iconography on personal social media sites. Do not use the district or school names to promote a
product, cause, or political party or candidate.
• Terms of service: Obey the Terms of Service of any social media platform employed. No one under age
13 is allowed to use Facebook. (Our younger students can view our district fan page through their
parents’ or guardians’ accounts and with adult supervision.) Violations of this policy will be
reported when discovered by district staff.
• Think twice before posting: Privacy does not exist in the world of social media. Consider what could
happen if a post becomes widely known and how that may reflect both on the poster and the
district. Search engines can turn up posts years after they are created, and comments can be
forwarded or copied. If you wouldn’t say it in front of your supervisor, grandmother or to a
member of the media, consider whether you should post it online. If you are unsure about posting
something or responding to a comment, ask your supervisor for input or contact the Department of
Public Relations at 573-547-7500 ext. 559
• Strive for accuracy: Get the facts before posting on social media. Review content for grammatical and
spelling errors. This is especially important if posting on behalf of the district in any capacity.
• Be respectful: Understand that content contributed to a social media site could encourage comments or
discussion of opposing ideas. Responses should be considered carefully in light of how they would
reflect on the poster and/or the district and its institutional voice.
• Remember your audience: Be aware that a presence in the social media world is or easily can be made
available to the public at large. This includes prospective students, current students, their parents
and extended families, current or potential employers and colleagues, business partners and peers. Consider this before publishing to ensure the post will not alienate, harm or provoke any of these
groups.
• On personal sites, identify your views as your own. If you identify yourself as a district faculty or staff
member online, it should be clear that the views expressed are not necessarily those of the
institution.
• Photography: Photographs posted on social media sites can be appropriated. Consider adding a
watermark and/or posting images at 72 dpi and approximately 800x600 resolution to protect your
intellectual property. Images at that size are sufficient for viewing on the Web, but not suitable for
printing. If you post on behalf of an official district school or unit, the following policies must be adhered to in
addition to all existing district policies, guidelines and the best practices listed above:
• Notify the district: Any district staff member or group that wishes to use the District name, the names of
its schools, its mascot or any other iconography in media of any type must first contact the
Department of Public Relations.
• Acknowledge who you are: If you are representing Perry County School District 32 when posting on a
social media platform, acknowledge this.
• Protect the institutional voice: Posts on social media sites should protect the district’s institutional voice
by remaining professional in tone and in good taste. Posts should not conflict with the district’s
policies.
