Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons of California (OPSC)
Social Media Policy1
OPSC recognizes the importance of the Internet in shaping public thinking and the importance of our employees joining and helping influence public conversation and direction through various forms of social media. The guidelines below will help authorized employees open up a respectful, knowledgeable interaction with people on the Internet while protecting the privacy, confidentiality, and interest of OPSC and its members, affiliates, and funders.
Some of the policies below also apply to off-duty use of social media by employees if that use involves any mention of OPSC or could be construed as a use of social media in your official capacity as an OPSC employee. Questions about the interpretation of this policy should be directed to Kathleen Creason, Executive Director, OPSC.
A. Social Media Policy Statement
Social media may be used only by authorized OPSC employees while on duty, but only for business-related purposes and subject to the restrictions set forth in this policy. Authorized employees shall be identified by job title by the Executive Director. No OPSC employee may work on personal blogs or personal social media during work hours.
B. Definitions
Blog -Short for "Web log," a site that allows an individual or group of individuals to share a running log of events and personal insights with online audiences.
Podcast - A collection of digital media files distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers.
Social Media -Includes, but is not limited to, blogs, podcasts, online discussion forums, online collaborative information and publishing systems that are accessible to internal and external audiences (i.e., wikis), RSS feeds, Twitter, video sharing, and social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
Social Networking -Defined as any activity that involves interaction in online communities of people. This interaction includes, but is not limited to, browsing other users' profiles, browsing other users' photos, reading messages sent through social media forums and engaging in online communities' instant messaging services.
OPSC Information -Information in any form or media that is created by or on behalf of OPSC in the course and scope of its business, regardless of whether that information is maintained or stored by OPSC and others on OPSC's behalf. Examples of such information include, but are not limited to, reports and white papers, newsletters, financial information, program development information, OPSC-developed intellectual property, and business email messages.
Wiki -Allows users to create, edit, and link webpages easily; often used to create collaborative websites (called "wikis") and to power community websites.
1 This policy is provided for informational and educational purposes and is not intended to provide legal advice or to be relied upon as such.
C. Approved Social Media Sites
The following Social Media sites are officially approved forums in which specifically authorized OPSC employees may participate during business hours and post comments and information on behalf of OPSC in their official capacity:
These official Sites are collectively referred to in this policy as "Forums." Any other Social Media sites that are not approved and that contain OPSC Trademarks, alleged OPSC content, or that otherwise expressly or impliedly purport to be an official OPSC Forum should be reported to Executive Director immediately.
D. General Guidelines for Interaction about OPSC on the Internet
The following general guidelines apply to all Social Media Sites used by authorized OPSC employees acting in their official capacity:
OPSC's social media communications must be a coordinated effort with the Executive Director and Social Media Group taking the lead. Consequently, unless authority has been specifically delegated to a particular department or person by the Executive Director, all external messages must be reviewed in advance for consistency of message and compliance with OPSC policy.
Unless given permission by the Executive Director, no individual may purport to speak on Social Media sites on behalf of OPSC either on-duty or off-duty.
All official Forums must be monitored periodically by an administrator who has the authority to remove content that violates these guidelines. The Executive Director shall identify the employee(s) in charge of monitoring each Forum.
The Forum may not be used for illegal or other improper purposes, including but not limited to defamation, violation of intellectual property laws, violation of antitrust or unfair competition laws or violation of criminal laws.
No one may intentionally interfere with or disrupt other Forum members, network services, or network equipment. This includes distribution of unsolicited advertisement or chain letters, propagation of computer worms and viruses, and use of the network to make unauthorized entry to any other machine accessible via the Forum.
The Forum may not be used for commercial purposes. "Commercial" as used for purposes of evaluating Forum messages means communications whose primary purpose is to advance the business or financial interests of any person or for-profit entity, or otherwise to promote a financial transaction for the benefit of the author directly or indirectly. Examples of prohibited communications include advertisements for for-profit products or services, notices regarding rental of office space, or direct solicitations of Forum members to purchase for-profit products or services. Examples of messages that may be of financial benefit to Forum members but are not prohibited because they do not inure to the financial benefit of the author include news of job listings or discussion of professionally-related products or services where the Forum member conveying the information is not in the business of selling the products or services.
The Forum may not be used for any communication that could be construed in any way as support for or opposition to any candidate for a federal, state or local public office or any political party.
OPSC "confidential or proprietary information" may not be posted on any Forum, except in the rare instance where you have the express written permission of Executive Director. Confidential or proprietary information is defined as any OPSC information that has not been publicly released by OPSC. This includes, but is not limited to information about finances, funding, membership or staff information (including personal information about a OPSC member or person), corporate strategy, board of directors discussions, etc. If you have any question about whether information released publicly or doubts of any kind, speak the Executive Director before releasing information that could potentially harm OPSC.
OPSC owns all work product created by its employees related to the performance of their jobs, including but not limited to the right to copyright, use, reproduce, and/or disseminate on-duty employee-created social media content in print or electronic form throughout the world.
OPSC reserves the right to suspend, modify or withdraw this Social Media postings policy, and employees are responsible for regularly reviewing the terms of this policy. Please be aware that violation of this policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.
E. Specific Guidelines For Authorized OPSC Employees Using Social Media On Duty
Common sense is the best guide if you decide to post information in any way relating to OPSC. All messages shall be reviewed by Executive Director prior to posting.
Press queries: If a member of the news media or blogger contacts you about an Internet posting that concerns OPSC, please refer that person to the Executive Director.
If you make an authorized posting to a social media site, identify yourself-name and, when relevant, role at OPSC-when you discuss OPSC or OPSC-related matters.
Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws. For OPSC's protection and well as your own, it is critical that you show proper respect for the laws governing copyright and fair use of copyrighted material owned by others, including OPSC's own copyrights and brands. You should never quote more than short excerpts of someone else's work, and when you do, be sure to give the author appropriate credit. And it is good general blogging practice to link to others' work rather than copying it. If you have permission to post material that is copyrighted by OPSC, be sure that it includes a OPSC copyright warning. If there is no copyright notice on the materials, add the following: "Copyright [year of creation] by OPSC. All Rights Reserved."
Respect your audience. Do not use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in OPSC's workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others' privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory-such as politics and religion.
Quality matters: Always have a communications staff member proof your copy before you post. Do make the effort to be clear, complete and concise.
F. Guidelines For Personal (Off Duty) Social Media Use
Know and follow OPSC existing employee guidelines and the above social media guidelines.
Do not use OPSC's or any OPSC employee's name, address or other information in your personal online profile. This is for your physical safety as well the safety of everyone else at OPSC and the protection of OPSC's name.
OPSC staff members are personally responsible for the content they publish on personal blogs, wikis or any other social media platforms in which they participate in their off-duty hours. Whether or not an OPSC staff person chooses to create or participate in a personal blog, wiki, online social network or any other form of online publishing or discussion during off-duty hours is his or her own decision; however, OPSC staff should not post comments that negatively influence or disparage OPSC's reputation or that confuse readers into believing that personal comments are being made in an official OPSC capacity. In general, when participating in social media sites during your off-duty personal time, you should avoid references to OPSC, other OPSC employees, or your role at OPSC whenever possible.
If you desire to develop an off-duty site or write an off-duty blog that will mention OPSC or our members, affiliates, or funders, you must receive the prior written consent of the Executive Director. In general, OPSC does not approve such requests and strongly discourages off-duty references to OPSC and its operations.
Approved by OPSC Board of Directors 5-6-13