It has been a journey but CSU’s Social Media Policy is on its way to be formally adopted by Cabinet. We aim to have the policy adopted and fully functional by the end of the fall semester.

As a refresher, the impetus of establishing a social media policy at CSU was to provide guidelines as to how to properly portray, promote and protect the institution in the social media realm. The foundational tenets of the policy are:

• Officially-recognized CSU social media accounts and web pages be reviewed and approved through an application process.
• Each social media account will have responsible administrators identified.
• Each officially-approved account must include a disclaimer statement, in the prescribed form, regarding content and opinions contained on the site.
• Inappropriate, offensive, injurious and illegal content, or such conduct that is reflected on the site, may be removed by account administrators.
• Best practices for social media accounts should be considered.

It has been exciting to see how groups and departments across campus have embraced social media making it a valuable communications tool. In yesterday’s Rocky Mountain Collegian, the paper posted a poll taken from its website in which 73 percent of the respondents said the Facebook was their favorite social media outlet. Twitter was up second with 14 percent of the vote.

Since CSU students are regularly using Facebook and other social media sites, so should CSU. Creating an engaging and dynamic social media presence provides the opportunity to connect with a variety of audiences and build community.

Check out this blog regularly for updates on what is happening with social media at CSU and trends from the industry as a whole. We’ll have posts from social media movers and shakers here at CSU with their tips and tricks in creating successful communities. Stay tuned!