Departmental use of Facebook and other third-party web services to conduct University-related communication introduces a variety of legal and policy issues. This document highlights some of those issues and offers strategies for safe and effective use of Facebook.
UM departments must use UM-controlled services to conduct required official and other University activities. Communication that contains privacy-protected information must use only secure UM-controlled services such as CyberBear, Blackboard, or OneStop.
Departments that choose to use Facebook should be prepared to educate employees and other participants about expectations related to the use of third-party web applications, privacy concerns and other relevant policy and legal issues.
Current uses of Facebook at UM
An increasing number of UM academic and administrative departments have established public Facebook groups to complement official communication and attempt to foster community among users. Academic departments such as Radio/TV, English, Creative Writing, History and Communication Studies use Facebook primarily to informally connect current students, faculty, alumni and friends. Enrollment Services uses "closed" Facebook groups to connect incoming students and answer questions before the students arrive on campus.
Facebook groups vs. individual networking
Facebook participants network with each other in two basic ways: they build personal networks by becoming "friends" with other participants, or they establish more general connections by joining groups. Groups promote interaction based on common interests rather than personal relationships.
Departments that choose to use Facebook should establish appropriate groups rather than depicting, intentionally or otherwise, the department as an individual and soliciting or accepting "friends."
Setting up and administering Facebook groups
Facebook groups can have three levels of access:
open, meaning anyone can join and invite others to join, and anyone can see group information and content.
closed, meaning an administrator must approve requests to join and only members can see content.
secret, meaning the group does not appear in search results or in the profiles of members. Membership is by invitation only and only members can see group information and content.
Seven content tools are available in a Facebook group. The group administrator determines which tools are enabled:
Show related groups, which are other Facebook groups in which group members participate
Show related events, which are events from related groups
Discussion board
Wall (for members to post notes and other content)
Photos
Videos
Posted items (usually used to link to external web content)
With photos, videos and posted items, the administrator can allow all members to add content, or restrict it to the administrator only. A group administrator can also designate others in the group to have administrator privileges.
Guiding principles
The following principles should govern UM departmental Facebook groups:
The group description-visible at the top of the group page-should provide ground rules for participation, including warnings against discussing students who do not wish to participate in the group, student records or other protected personal information, and encouraging respect for others in all communication. Although the administrator should not approve or censor posts, Facebook has a built-in tool for reporting violations of its terms of use. Specifically, posts that attack an individual or group, or are deemed advertising or spam, can be reported to Facebook and can result in loss of privileges for the offender and potentially the group.
Never communicate personal educational or health records via Facebook or any other non-secure third-party system. (See federal FERPA and HIPAA laws, as well as Montana University System student privacy statutes. Montana law requires that a student agrees to any class-related activity before that activity can be communicated via Facebook)
As a channel of communication, the Facebook group should augment official channels of communication (such as the departmental website) rather than replace them because as noted above, Facebook is not to be used to conduct official or required University activities.
Participation in the group must be voluntary, and non-participation cannot result in negative repercussions for a student or employee.
Because of the social and informal extracurricular nature of this activity, faculty and academic departments should generally refrain from attempting to discipline students for academic or general misconduct under the student conduct code for their activities on social networking sites unless there is a violation of the law.
Groups typically should be open to any person who falls within the definition of member as determined by the UM department creating the group. A department may choose to open a group for at least the limited purpose of making group content available to all and not requiring group membership to see it.
