Social Media Guidelines

Observe the values of the Code of Conduct

Communicate respectfully and appreciatively and always consider the personal integrity of others. All communication must be in line with the values of the University of Basel’s Code of Conduct.

No political statements

The University of Basel is politically neutral. Therefore, please refrain from making political statements on behalf of the University of Basel or its organizational units.

Protect confidential information

Never disclose confidential University of Basel information – such as business, financial or personal data – via social media.

Responsibility

Users are personally responsible for the posts that they publish on the University of Basel’s social media channels.

Ensure transparency

As an employee of the University of Basel – particularly as a researcher and/or teaching staff – your expertise carries weight in public debate. Indicate your affiliation and your area of research and be transparent about which statements reflect your academic expertise and which posts represent your personal opinion. Disclose your conflicts of interest.

Respect the university’s time and property

The University of Basel’s social media channels may only be used for university-related business.

Third-party rights

Please respect all third-party rights in your posts, specifically copyrights, personal rights and data protection law.

Promotion

In the context of your work at the University of Basel, you are not permitted to use social media for paid promotion of products, events or services that are not related to the University of Basel.

If you are planning a paid social media promotional campaign for University of Basel events, services or products, please notify the Communications & Marketing department ahead of the campaign.

Corporate design, nomenclature and presentation

If you create illustrations, videos or other graphic elements, be sure to follow the University of Basel’s corporate design guidelines as closely as possible.

Only use the official designation of your organizational unit and append “University of Basel” (example: “Educational Technologies University of Basel”). Avoid the short form “Uni Basel” in your designation.

We recommend adding “.unibasel” to the page title or URL, as in:  https://www.facebook.com/sustainability.unibasel

Profile pictures must comply with the University of Basel’s corporate design guidelines. The Communications & Marketing department supports administrators in creating their profile pictures. Please contact the social media manager by email before activating your social media presence.

Monitoring and moderating comments

Monitor your pages daily and respond to enquiries, comments and questions immediately.

Answer questions within the limits of your expert knowledge. If a question falls outside your area of expertise, direct the inquirer to an appropriate unit or contact the Communications & Marketing department.

Be honest, positive and friendly in responding to negative comments and do not delete them from the platform. Try to respond to such views as soon as possible, but feel free to delete offensive or irrelevant comments (spam). If you become aware of insults, threats or hate speech, please take a screenshot and send it to the Communications & Marketing department.

Seek help in the event of hostility

If you experience personal hostility on social media, you can contact the Social Media Officer in confidence to discuss possible next steps.

Be aware of university policy

The use of social media is subject to the existing university regulations and directives (see “Downloads”).

The general managers of the respective organizational units and the heads of central administrative units such as IT-Services and the University Library, as well as units within the President’s Office, decide who can open and administer an account for a unit on behalf of the university. These managers maintain a list of individuals who may post content to the accounts and advise those individuals that they are responsible for the content of anything they post.

Identify your target groups, messages and goals in advance and how your page differs from the University of Basel’s profile page. Think about how you will organize the publication of frequently changing content on your social media page in the long term. The University of Basel’s Communications department can offer conceptual advice if you need it.

Managers can delegate the administration of the social media page to staff. One of the administrators must be employed by the University of Basel on a permanent basis. Upon a change of administrator, the passwords should also be changed. Wherever possible, the email address used to create the page should be an address attached to a particular role. For optimal protection of your social media site against unauthorized access, use two-factor authentication.

Please notify the Communications & Marketing department whenever you set up a social media account and send the name of the person responsible by email.

The Communications & Marketing department is responsible for institutional communication at the University of Basel, including social media governance. The department will provide you with advice and support for your social media activity and in implementing these guidelines. If you violate these guidelines, the Head of Communications & Marketing will contact you.

The social media activities of Skuba, Avuba and faculty groups are subject to the Statutes and Faculty Group Regulations of skuba and the Statutes of avuba. These associations are responsible for reviewing and ensuring compliance themselves.