CUNY recognizes the importance of social media in communication, outreach, and engagement with its students, faculty, alumni, stakeholders and the general public. Therefore, the University has developed social media guidelines for its Central Office.
These guidelines apply to all social media accounts created or managed by programs and offices within CUNY Central Office. Staff, college assistants and interns operating Central Office-affiliated social media accounts must adhere to these guidelines. For individual CUNY colleges, please reach out to the communications and marketing office at your respective campus.
Creating Social Media Accounts
The CUNY Office of Communications and Marketing must approve the creation of all social media accounts. Please fill out the Social Media Account Request Form. In addition, please send an email to digital@cuny.edu that a Social Media Account Request Form has been submitted. Please allow 10 business days for review.
Before you complete the Social Media Account Request Form, consider the following:
- Who is your audience? Is social media the best and most practical way to keep your audience updated with news and events?
- Define the purpose of having a social media account. Opening an account with no thoughtful growth plan and strategy and lack of consistent content and attention is not recommended.
- Do you have a full-time staffer(s) with social media experience to manage and moderate the account?
- Do you have a legacy system in place? This avoids confusion over logins and passwords when individuals inherit the account(s).
Once the Social Media Account Request Form is approved, the Social Media Team at the CUNY Office of Communications and Marketing will hold an introductory meeting with the social media moderators.
Each social media account will always have at least two moderators: one primary moderator and one backup moderator. All accounts should have a CUNY.edu email address so the account is not tied to a personal email address.
Each social media account must strictly adhere to the University Brand Voice Guidelines. Social media logos and design toolkits must be produced and approved by the CUNY Office of Communications and Marketing. Third-party vendors are prohibited from producing logos and design toolkits.
Please complete this Graphic Design and Identity Services Form to receive social media logos and a design toolkit.
Each social media account must have a bio description that clearly states the office or department. Accounts should link to the CUNY.edu website or departmental/office landing page. Users will treat your account and interpret your messaging as a representative of the University.
Should a delay in the approval process occur, the Social Media Team will communicate directly by email for any discrepancies. Departments and offices can adjust accordingly and resubmit their form.
Within the CUNY community, social media accounts are typically created to represent programs or offices. Occasionally, there might be a reason to create an official social media account for senior leadership, like a provost or vice chancellor. Such accounts do not transfer to the employee’s personal use should they leave the University. Ownership of the account will remain with Central Office in perpetuity.
In today’s social media climate and regardless of public vs. private social media accounts, everything you post is public to a degree and posts can never be truly scrubbed from the internet. It is recommended that staff who wish to use social media in a personal capacity and choose to identify themselves as a CUNY employee in their bio and posts, should have a disclaimer that indicates that their expressed views and opinions are solely theirs, and do not reflect the views and opinions of their employer.
- Logos of CUNY colleges, departments, and programs are strongly discouraged for personal social media accounts or for any commercial purpose.
- Use common sense and professionalism when posting.
Social Media Best Practices
If you need training or refresher courses on best practices, please reach out to the Social Media Team at the CUNY Office of Communications and Marketing. They will periodically review affiliated account activity.
When representing the University on social media:
- Posts should always remain professional in tone and good taste. Abusive or offensive posts that undermine the University’s reputation and mission will not be tolerated.
- Do not post for personal purposes. Central Office social media accounts are for the dissemination of official University content.
- Please make every effort to credit the photographer or source of your photo when and where you can. Utilize CUNY’s Flickr account for recent campaigns and events. Central Office does not have an enterprise account for paid stock photos, photo banks or graphic design tools like Canva.
- If you plan to take photos for an event, a consent and release form is strongly recommended. Please reach out to the Social Media Team for a digital copy.
- Make every effort to make your content is accessible by providing closed captioning to your videos and alt-text on your photos. The CUNY Accessibility page has further details.
Community Management
Carefully monitor public comments and replies to your social media posts. Some recommendations:
- At your discretion, you can hide inappropriate comments, including offensive language and hate speech, and remove followers (e.g., advertisements for essay writing services or sexual solicitations). Keep in mind that users may screenshot posts and notice when you hide inappropriate comments.
- Check the platform’s community guidelines. Monitor engagement on posts and report community violations accordingly using the platform’s reporting portals.
- If a commenter requires assistance (e.g., a question about financial aid, CUNYfirst or campus facilities), you may respond and direct them to the appropriate office or department.
- Before responding to a post or comment, consult with colleagues and think through your response strategy rather than posting immediately.
If you encounter the following in public comments or direct messages, immediately screenshot and report them to the appropriate office or department
- Threats of violence
Report to Public Safety - Suicidal language
Report to the Office of Student Affairs
- Accusations of discrimination and retaliation
Report to CUNY’s Reporting Portal - Accusations of sexual harassment or sexual assault
Report to Campus Title IX Coordinator
College Social Media Guidelines
Deactivating Accounts
Suppose social media accounts are inactive, and a moderator cannot commit to social media activity. In that case, the CUNY Office of Communications and Marketing strongly suggests hiding a page or unpublishing/deactivating the account. Please notify the Social Media Team at the CUNY Office of Communications and Marketing.