Social Media Guide

Branding Guidelines

---

Logos, avatars, and profile images

• Social media icons and profile images must include use the University wordmark logo, in gold, inside a dark blue bar beneath the graphic that represents the affiliated organization. The template is available from Communications and Marketing.
• Graphics representing the affiliated organization may be photographic images, illustrations, or your official “unit entity”.
• To use the athletics logo, you must have permission from the Communications and Marketing Office.
• Do not stretch, distort, or alter the University logo in any way.
• University of Rhode Island logos, tagline graphics, or other “official” representation elements may not be used for personal social media accounts or for unofficial affiliated accounts, without express permission from the University of Rhode Island Communications and Marketing Office.

---

Page names and backgrounds

• Social media page names must use the full name of the University, rather than an abbreviation. For example, say “University of Rhode Island Multicultural Center” instead of simply “URI Multicultural Center. (Existing accounts that do not use “University of Rhode Island” will be grandfathered in by this policy.)
• Twitter handles must begin with “URI” and end with the name of the affiliated organization. For example: “URINews,” “URIDining,” “URIAdmission,” etc. (Existing pages that do not use “URI” to begin their handle will be grandfathered in by this policy.)

---

Content on your social pages

• Include links to the University’s main Facebook Page, Twitter page, Instagram account, YouTube Channel, etc., on your respective social media pages.
• Content should reflect the mission, values, and priorities of the University, not the personal views of the poster. Do not endorse private companies, products, political candidates, etc.
• Remember the University’s branded “voice” in your posts. The “voice” is involves word choice, tone, and sentence structure that is simultaneously confident and humble, informative and casual, witty and intelligent. It is surprisingly void of educational jargon and acronyms, and full of common sense and conversational speech.
• Always use spell check before posting.
• Avoid using “text speak” when you post. For example, “See you later” would be acceptable, while “C U L8er” would not.
• Social media algorithms encourage posts with images and videos. Posts and tweets with text only will not create as much engagement with your audience.

---

Rules for posting content

• Copyright: You must have written permission prior to using any copyrighted or proprietary materials such as music, art, photographs, videos or texts. If sharing someone else’s content on social media, please ask for permission, tag their accounts when requested, and do not edit or manipulate shared media.
• Permission: In general, verbal or written permission (or a Photo Release Form) must be obtained from individuals whose images are identifiable.
• Personal Information: Personally identifiable information that can be used to locate someone offline, including but not limited to phone numbers, home or local addresses, birth date, and e-mail addresses, should not be posted.
• FERPA: Remember that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects the privacy of student education records. The University’s e-mail system (not Facebook or Twitter) must be used when communicating about an issue involving a specific student.
• Sensitive Information: Confidential or proprietary University information or similar information of third parties, who have shared such information with you on behalf of URI, should not be shared publicly on these social media channels.
• Be Aware of Liability: You are responsible for what you post on your own site and on the sites of others. Individual bloggers have been held liable for commentary deemed to be copyright infringement, defamatory, proprietary, libelous, or obscene (as defined by the courts). Increasingly, employers are conducting Web searches on job candidates before extending offers. Be sure that what you post today will not come back to haunt you.