4009 Social Media Procedure

PROCEDURE  

Policy Name: Social Media 

Policy Number: 4009 

Applicable Code/Law: RCW 42.52 Ethics in Public Service, RCW 42.56 Public Records Act 

Definitions:   

• Official Account: A social media profile or page that represents Shoreline College (SC) or one of its departments, programs, or services and has been approved by Communications & Marketing. 

• Account Administrator: An SC employee responsible for managing an official social media account. At least two administrators are required per account. 

• Institutional Channels: This refers to the College’s main social media accounts managed by Communications & Marketing- see list below. 

Procedural Guidelines:    

This procedure provides clear guidance for the creation, management, and maintenance of official Shoreline College social media accounts. It ensures consistency, accessibility, brand alignment, and legal compliance across all platforms while supporting creative and strategic engagement with Shoreline’s community. 

As of the effective date, SC maintains official institutional presences on the following platforms: 

• Facebook 

• Instagram 

• LinkedIn 

• YouTube 

• WeChat (International Education) 

• RedNote (International Education) 

• BiliBili (International Education) 

The College no longer uses X (formerly Twitter) and does not currently plan to add additional platforms at this time unless approved by the Communications & Marketing department. 

This policy and procedure cover currently approved platforms mentioned above, and any future platforms formally authorized by Communications & Marketing.  Communications and Marketing will maintain a list that will be updated on a regular basis. 

Legal & College Compliance 

Applicable Laws. All uses of social media using employee time through SC computer systems, networks shall follow applicable laws, including the statutes and rules related to Ethics in Public Service, intellectual property rights law, and applicable social media site standards. 

• Compliance with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Posters should avoid including any personally identifiable information that is protected. This includes identification numbers such as social security numbers or student ID, addresses, or phone numbers (other than authorized business addresses or phone numbers). Student record information shall not be transmitted via social media. 

• Use of identifiable images. The college requires the permission of students (using the SC Model Release Form) whose readily identifiable images will be used to promote the college online and in print publications. The use of identifiable images of minors (17 years of age and under) is prohibited without written permission from a parent or guardian.  
  • In the case of public events and activities, there is no expectation of privacy. The college does not need to obtain photo/media releases from those participating in and/or attending SC events and activities that are open to the public. 

• Other prohibited content. Use of copyrighted or trademarked information that is of a confidential or proprietary nature is also prohibited. 

Guidance on Posting Violations 

Employees: 

Employee posts made on official Shoreline accounts containing any of the following will be removed. 

• Comments that violate the following Policies and Procedures 1002-Community Standard; 4113-Discrimination, Harassment & Title IX Compliance; 

• Comments that attack a person’s character 

• Content that constitutes discriminatory harassment toward a person or a group of people on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, immigrant status, citizenship, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation 

• Defamation-Libelous material, as defined by state law 

• Obscenity and sexually explicit material or links to sexual content 

• Violent content or links to violent content 

• Profane language 

• Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity 

• Threats or personal attacks that are directed, suggested, or implied 

• Comments that are unrelated or irrelevant to the educational environment 

• Comments objectively determined to not meaningfully relate to the original topic presented/posts 

• Any comments containing hyperlinks 

• Repetitive posts of the same material that disrupt the normal operation of the forum 

• Impersonation of someone else or identities that cannot be confirmed 

• Promotes, endorses, advertises, or solicits business/commerce including “spam” or other commercial content. 

• Political statements that endorse or oppose political candidates or ballot measures. 

• Contains private personal information of any person (e.g. home address, phone number, personal email address, identification numbers, and the like). 

General Public: 

Views expressed by students and community members on our social media accounts do not necessarily represent the college’s views, but we recognize a thriving academic community is not possible without our students and community members sharing their thoughts freely with one another on our social media accounts. 

With that in mind, there may be rare occasions when it is necessary to hide or delete a comment or post, such as when the comment or post includes: 

Shoreline College reserves the right to hide, remove, or delete without notice posts, comments, replies or any public commentary containing any of the following will be removed. Multiple violations may result in the restriction of the poster’s ability to interact with Shoreline College on social media or other online forums. 

• Comments made by students that violate Policy and Procedure 5030-Student Conduct 

• Spam or similar comments promoting a product, service or entity unrelated to the discussion 

• True threats, as defined by state law 

• Defamation-Libelous material, as defined by state law 

• Illegal activity or encouragement of illegal activity 

• Fighting words, as defined by federal law 

• Obscenity, as defined by state and federal law, and sexually explicit material or links to sexual content 

• Profane language, as defined by federal or state law 

• Violations of copyright, trademark, patent, or trade secrets 

• Political statements that endorse or oppose political candidates or ballot propositions. 

• Comments objectively determined to not meaningfully relate to the original topic presented/posted 

• Any comment containing hyperlinks 

• Repetitive comments in the same post will be hidden 

• Promotes, endorses, advertises, or solicits business/commerce including “spam” or other commercial content. 

• Contains private personal information of any person (e.g. home address, phone number, personal email address, identification numbers, and the like). 

Post Limits: 

Comments will be deactivated for any post when comments reach 150 total. 

These guidelines must be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained, including the time, date, and identity of the poster when available. 

Blocking Users: 

As with removing comments and posts, Shoreline College values our community members’ free and open use of expression. However, if an individual user has shown a pattern of harassing or threatening behavior toward Shoreline College through social media, there may be grounds for blocking. Account holders should document the pattern of questionable behavior (screenshots) and contact Communications & Marketing. The team will determine whether blocking is constituted and/or if Campus Safety needs to be involved. Each case will be determined on a case-by-case basis. As always, if there is ever a believed immediate threat to the college or anyone on campus, contact Campus Safety and/or the police as soon as possible. 

Requesting a Social Media Post on Institutional Accounts 

Shoreline’s institutional accounts are managed by Communications & Marketing. 

To request a post: 

1. Submit a tdx ticket with: 
2. Message/event summary 
3. Preferred posting date(s) 
4. Platform(s) requested 
5. Media assets (with alt text/captions if available) 
6. Contact for follow-up 
7. Submit at least ten business days in advance. 
8. Communications & Marketing will edit, schedule, and confirm use or adaptation. 

Creating a New Official Social Media Account 

To create a departmental or program-specific account: 

• Submit a Social Media Account Request Form to Communications & Marketing with: 
  • Purpose and audience 
  • Proposed platform(s) 
    • Options are only available for the platforms listed above 
  • Two designated employee administrators 
  • Posting strategy and frequency 
    • All official accounts must make a post at LEAST once a week during the fall, spring and winter Quarters and at least once a month during the summer Quarter. 
    • All new account requests must be submitted with an initial list of post ideas (at least 20) to help establish consistency. 
  • Accessibility plan and photo/media release process 
• If approved: 
  • Communications & Marketing will be given administrative access and credentials 
  • Branding and bio must identify the account as affiliated with Shoreline 
    • Communications & Marketing will provide: 
      • Compliant digital accessibility and brand style training 
      • Platform-specific guidance 
  • Review and consultation for new account creation 
  • Platform must be connected to an approved archiving solution (if applicable) 
• Student employees may assist with content but should not serve as sole page administrators. 

Account and Administrator Responsibilities 

All administrators of official accounts must: 

• Post at least once weekly in fall, winter, and spring quarters, and at least once monthly in the summer quarter. 
• Maintain consistent, accessible, and brand-aligned content (See SC Brand Guidelines and SC Social Media Guidelines on the intranet page for more detail) 
• Respond to public comments/messages in a fashion that is both appropriate and timely. 
  • Individual post comments should be responded to as much as possible, and DMs should be answered within 48 hours. 
• Remove account access from departed employees or student workers as part of the SC offboarding process. 
• Notify Communications & Marketing of changes in administrator roles or credentials 
• Archive content annually via approved tool 

Failure to comply with this procedure or Social Media policy may result in: 

• Loss of account management privileges 

• Deactivation of the account 

• Referral to Human Resources or Student Conduct for further action, consistent with College policy and employee classification (faculty, exempt, classified, student) 

Official Shoreline College Account Deactivation 

Communications & Marketing will regularly review accounts for alignment with College branding, accessibility, and frequency standards. 

An account may be deactivated or consolidated if it: 

• Is inactive for more than six (6) months 

• Lacks clear purpose or ongoing strategy 

• Violates policy or fails to comply with content guidelines 

Emergency Communication 

In an emergency: 

• Only Communications & Marketing may post original emergency-related content which will always be found on original Shoreline College social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram. 
  • Other departments must only share or repost official updates 
  • Do not speculate, comment, or issue statements as related to any emergency on other official college social media accounts 

In the event of a potential reputational issue or “incident” on a social media account: 

• Pause posting 

• Document the concern 

• Contact Communications & Marketing immediately 

• If safety is a concern, contact Campus Safety or 911 

Use of Social Media During College Time and Resources 

• College employees may use official social media accounts during work hours to support College business as approved by their supervisors. 

• Personal use of social media should occur on personal time/devices, except for brief and infrequent activity that complies with the Washington State Ethics in Public Service Act 

Public Records and Archiving 

As a public institution, Shoreline’s social media content is considered a public record under Washington State law (RCW 42.56). 

Account administrators must: 

• Archive account content annually or via a College-approved third-party archiving solution 

• All SC social media accounts must be archived according to Washington State Archives retention schedules using a third-party social media archiving SC employees can contact the Public Information Officer pio@shoreline.edu in Marketing and Communications to get their department or program account set up. 

• Retain content (including removed comments) when legally required 

• Respond promptly to public records requests in coordination with the College’s Public Records Officer 

Approval:

Reviewed and Approved by Executive Team: 07/21/2026