Responding to Questions
It is important that any information you post or respond to has all the correct facts and information. Try and direct questions to the appropriate channels to which the question is referring. Plus, there is no shortage of subject matter experts at UCLA, so if a question is about a topic you can tie back to research or discoveries at UCLA, or to a subject matter expert at UCLA, even better!
For example, if you receive a question regarding admissions, an appropriate response would be, “Hi, XXXX. If your question is admissions-related please contact admission here https://admission.ucla.edu/contact“.
Code of Conduct
UCLA social media channels seek to advance a welcoming and inclusive environment for discussion of topics related to UCLA and its community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, partners and supporters, per UCLA’s Principles of Community. Posts should be on-topic and respectful of the rights and opinions of others.
On its social media channels, UCLA prohibits acts of discrimination, harassment, profiling or other conduct causing harm to individuals on the basis of expression of race, color, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religious beliefs, political preference, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, national origin, or other characteristics. UCLA further prohibits online bullying meant to incite negative actions against an individual, or comments that make public personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers.
Additionally, UCLA prohibits posts that violate copyrights or trademarks or contain spam (posts that promote events, products or services unrelated to UCLA).
UCLA reserves the right to delete, hide or block posts that violate these Principles of Community, and to block users who generate such posts.
Additionally, the Regents of the University of California may remove content from UCLA’s social media channels at any time without prior notice for any reason deemed to be in the Regents’ best interest.
Posts and comments by individuals on UCLA social media channels do not reflect the opinions or policies of UCLA or the University of California.
Crisis Communications
In the case of an emergency that impacts or involves the campus community, hold off on posting and defer to the Bruins Safe Online for communication updates, reference materials, and instructions. You can follow UCLA BruinAlert on Twitter here.
DO NOT POST any crisis-related communications outside of official messages from the UCLA Office of Emergency Management.
Reporting and Response
Social media managers are often the first to come across conflict or crises. This can include posts about an emergency on campus or tweets showing signs of emotional distress/anger from a student. If you see a post that gives you cause for concern:
1. Do not respond.
2. Save a screenshot for your records. Note the date when it was originally posted and
who posted it.
3. Notify the appropriate person/group:
- Negative social media posts/comments:
- Associate Director of Digital Issues Management – Sharon Han – shan@stratcomm.ucla.edu
- Student Complaint/Distress:
- Office of the Dean of Students – dean@saonet.ucla.edu
- Sex or Gender Discrimination:
- Title IX Office – titleix@conet.ucla.edu
4. CC the Office of the Campus Counsel as to the appropriateness of removal of the post and
taking further action.
5. CC Strategic Communications at socialmedia@ucla.edu so we are aware of any issues which may affect other groups/departments.
6. Delete/hide if it violates our Code of Conduct. Respond if the appropriate group has provided a statement.
In some cases, like student complaint or accusations of discrimination/misconduct, for example, you may respond that a person from a specific department will be contacting them via private/direct message.
Confidentiality
Members of the UCLA community are personally responsible for their words and actions. As online spokespeople, you must ensure that your posts are completely accurate and not misleading and that they do not reveal non-public information about UCLA. Exercise sound judgment and common sense, and if there is any doubt, DO NOT POST. It’s perfectly acceptable to talk about your work and have a dialog with the community, but you do not want to disclose anything that contains confidential, proprietary, personal or private information about UCLA, its employees, students, affiliates, vendors or suppliers.