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Social Media Policy

Social Media Participation Guidelines

As an institution of higher learning, American River College – by its very nature – embraces the free and open exchange of ideas. To that end, we are committed to the community's First Amendment rights and the core values of free speech.

We believe in fostering a thriving online community. We support the various channels of social networking – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and so on – as valuable tools for engaging students, staff, faculty, alumni, friends, and supporters in a constructive two-way dialogue about American River College and its mission.

At the same time, the long-term value, vibrancy, and success of any social media community depends on a shared philosophy of how to behave. Members of our community should become familiar with Facebook's Terms of Service, Twitter's Rules and Policies, YouTube's Policies, Instagram's Terms of Use, and similar support sites for social media. The emphasis for all participants – including site administrators – should always be transparency, honesty, respect, and civility.

All content, information, and views expressed on social media belong to the individuals posting the content. These views do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the college, district, or Board of Trustees. We are not responsible for unanswered posts or inaccurate information posted by others.

Here are guidelines for engaging in American River College social media platforms:

Be respectful of the rights and opinions of others. Be willing to agree to disagree and move on.
Stay on topic. Our social media sites are established as forums for the open and honest discussion of matters and developments related to – and limited to – our mission.
Be transparent and honest.
Add value. Be part of the conversation but don't take it over.
Avoid hateful speech, personal attacks, flaming, profanity, vulgarity, pornography, nudity, and abusive language.
Keep personal information (for example, your phone number and address) out of your posts.
Think before you post. Almost everything you write or post to a social media site – words, pictures, video – is public or can be discovered. If you post on any of our social media sites, then you consent that what you post can be published and you waive any expectation of privacy regarding the post. What you choose to add to the conversation today will live on long after the subject matter has come and gone as a topic of conversation.
We encourage you to post comments and "like" articles, photos, and videos you enjoy.

On our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram pages and other social media platforms, our goal is to post interesting, entertaining, and educational content. We welcome your comments and suggestions. We encourage conversation and dialogue, but we want to ensure a respectful online environment and invigorating conversation for the broader college community. Our page administrators review posts and comments regularly to ensure any issues or concerns are addressed promptly.

We may or may not reply to comments, but if it's provocative, fair, and insightful, chances are others will engage in the conversation.

We reserve the right to determine and remove from American River College social media sites any of the following:

Comments, links, images, or videos that are illegal or encourage illegal activity, or are obscene, defamatory/libelous/slanderous, indecent, lewd, lascivious, sexually harassing or explicit in nature, or pose risks to the health or safety of individuals
Comments that personally attack or threaten any person
For students, anything that would violate District policies regarding student regulations
For staff and faculty, anything that would violate District policies regarding staff and faculty regulations
Successive off-topic posts by one or more individuals or groups
Repetitive posts copied and pasted or duplicated by one or more individuals or groups
Solicitations or advertisements
Any materials that infringe upon the intellectual property or other rights of any third party