Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY recognizes the vital role that social media plays in communicating, collaborating and interacting with students, faculty, staff and the general public. We encourage responsible use of social media to connect with the BMCC community at-large in order to foster a place for vibrant and thoughtful engagement as it relates to the College.
These guidelines apply to the BMCC social media community at large; which include students, faculty, staff, administrators and members of the greater community.
BMCC offers the following best practices to help guide your participation in BMCC social media efforts.
Prepare for Success
Create a social media strategy: identify your audience, goals, and other tools for success before jumping in. For example will the social media page have a moderator and what criteria will be used to determine the site’s content? Take advantage of BMCC resources that can help you succeed. If you manage a social media page on behalf of BMCC, contact the Office of Public Affairs for additional guidance and best practices.
Protect Personal Information
Remember that everything you post on social media can be made public and can live on forever. For safety and security reasons, please be cautious about posting personal information (for example: home and cell phone numbers, mailing or home addresses, personal email addresses, etc.) on social media sites. Please familiarize yourself with the privacy policies of all social media sites and be aware of updates to on-going policies.
Be Appropriate and Respectful
Social media is “real life.” Behavior in social media is no different than in e-mail, public speech, classroom lecture, conversation with friends, or a poster on a wall. Anything considered inappropriate offline may also be considered inappropriate online. Know your audience and think before your post. For example, remember to consider the diversity of your audience. Be mindful of the impact of your words, actions, and images on various audiences. Free-speech rights are paramount, yet the rise of overt hate speech is not tolerated at the college. BMCC’s mission supports the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion to all members of the college community.
Be Authentic
Represent yourself accurately and be transparent about your role at BMCC. Consider that you are in an academic environment and the implications of utilizing a BMCC-provided platform.
Be Clear
When acting as a representative of the BMCC community, clearly identify you or your group’s relationship to BMCC. If you are a member of the BMCC community, but acting in social media as an individual, make it clear that you are expressing your own opinion and not that of BMCC.
