Download the STAQ Social Media Policy (PDF)

Summary

When posting on STAQ’s website, Facebook or other social media platform, you should:

  • Understand the concept of community
  • Be responsible for what you write
  • Be authentic
  • Consider your audience
  • Exercise good judgement
  • Respect copyrights and fair use
  • Remember to protect confidential and proprietary information
  • Bring value to the audience

1. The purpose of this policy

This policy outlines the guidelines for the use of STAQ social media accounts. This policy is for the use of STAQ representatives managing official STAQ social media accounts, now and in the future, until another policy supersedes this one. STAQ expects all who post to social media hosted by STAQ to understand and follow this policy. This policy will evolve as new social technologies and tools emerge.

2. Definitions

Social media: social media encompasses a range of Internet-based applications – such as the STAQ website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube – that enable people and organisations to communicate, collaborate and share information and resources.

Post: a post is text, audio, video, images, links or other multimedia that is published content using a social media application.

Community: a community is a group of people and organisations with similar interests or goals that engage and interact with each other using one or more social media applications. On Twitter, your followers and those you follow are part of your community; on Facebook those who have liked your page are your community.

3. The goals of using social media

Social media has and will continue to fundamentally change the way we work, offering new ways to engage with members, colleagues and the world at large. This new model for interaction can help STAQ to build stronger and more successful relationships. Social media offer a way for STAQ to participate in global conversations related to our work and the issues we care about.

Used effectively by STAQ, social media can:

  • Create and support a community of people whose interest is science education in Queensland;
  • Communicate and collaborate with current members of STAQ;
  • Communicate and collaborate with potential members of STAQ;
  • Raise awareness of the work that STAQ does to promote and develop science teacher professionalism in Queensland; and
  • Provide an avenue for informal communication between members, potential members and STAQ representatives.

STAQ seeks to hold a regular, daily presence within the science education community, particularly beginning teachers who are more familiar with this mode of communication and established digitally savvy teachers seeking to connect with an online community.

4. The risks of using social media

There are several risks of using social media that must be considered by STAQ. Users of STAQ social media account could:

  • Bring STAQ’s brand and reputation into disrepute.
  • Represent a personal or political view as that of STAQ.
  • Represent himself or herself as someone else either within STAQ or outside of STAQ.
  • Put social media to an inappropriate use.
  • Plagiarise or breach copyright or Creative Commons conditions when using or repurposing material.
  • Disclose personal information relating to STAQ employees, or official information that is confidential or proprietary.

The key to mitigating risks associated with using social media is real-time, constant and consistent monitoring of social media. This policy also serves to mitigate these risks.

5. Engagement

Understand the concept of community

  • Social media is not just for broadcasting to the world, but also for engaging with a community of people with similar interests.
  • Communities exist to support others and they, in turn can support STAQ.
  • STAQ social media accounts participate in communities where science teachers (members and non-members of STAQ) can feel comfortable sharing, connecting and receiving help.
  • STAQ social media accounts are interactive and posts by others seeking a response from STAQ must be addressed in a timely manner (ideally, within 24 hours during the working week).
  • By participating in these communities, STAQ has undertaken to foster and support these communities.

Be responsible for what you write

  • As a manager of STAQ social media accounts, you are responsible for your posts and must ensure you adhere to this policy whenever accessing STAQ social media accounts.
  • If a post gives you pause, pause. Take a minute to review this policy and try to figure out what’s bothering you, and then fix it. If you’re still unsure, consult a STAQ Executive member.

Be authentic

  • You must remember that you act as a representative of STAQ when posting.
  • STAQ must be represented as being friendly and trustworthy.
  • It’s a conversation. Talk to your readers like you would talk to real people in professional situations. Consider content that’s open-ended and invites response. Encourage comments. You can also broaden a conversation by citing others who post on the same topic.

Consider your audience

  • Remember that the audience of STAQ social media accounts includes teachers of science from all levels and specialties, early years to tertiary, and may also include pre-service teachers.
  • Remember that the audience of STAQ social media accounts includes members and non-members of STAQ.
  • If a post is intended for a particular subset of that audience, ensure this is specified in the post, i.e. “Pre-Service Teachers: have you registered for our pre-service teacher conference yet?”

Exercise good judgement

  • Refrain from posts that can be interpreted as inflammatory, derogatory or offensive.
  • Think twice before posting; ask yourself if the post can be misconstrued in any way.
  • Post as a STAQ representative rather than from your personal perspective.
  • Remember that STAQ is an association of and for science teachers. Educational or scientific perspectives posted must be credible, valid, and reliable and content should be checked to ensure it meets these criteria to the very best of your judgment. If you are at all unsure, don’t post, and consult a STAQ Executive member.

Respect copyrights and fair use

  • Always give others proper credit for their work. Do not re-post others’ posts without appropriate attribution.
  • Where applicable, check that STAQ has the right to publish content belonging to others (see the STAQ Publication Policy for more information).

Remember to protect confidential and proprietary information

  • Transparency is important for gaining the trust of others in a social community.
  • Confidential or proprietary information regarding the management of STAQ, STAQ events and STAQ volunteers must never be posted by STAQ representatives, through official STAQ social media accounts or your own.

Bring value to your audience

  • STAQ social media posts should add value to the audience of these accounts.
  • Consider the audience as well as the content of the post. Judge the content of posts according to whether or not the post will bring value to the audience.
  • Advertising of commercial events and products must be checked with a member of the STAQ Executive before being posted.
  • If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and quick with your correction. If you modify a post, be clear that you have done so.

Responding to complaints or negative feedback

  • Occasionally, a member of the social media community may post a complaint about STAQ, a STAQ Councillor or member, STAQ event, resource or service.
  • Such posts should not be ignored, but require an appropriate response.
    a. Posts containing inflammatory, derogatory or offensive language should be removed with a follow-up post by the STAQ representative that the post has been deleted and the reason given (“This post has been deleted in accordance with our Social Media Policy as it contained inflammatory, derogatory or offensive language.”). If possible, the poster should be contacted and their issue resolved.
    b. Posts containing complaints or negative feedback that do not contain inflammatory, derogatory or offensive language should not be deleted, but the response made publicly in the same format as the original post.
  • Responses to complaints should be given in a timely manner, with the aim to resolve the issue with the minimum of fuss.
  • Give the complainant not just information, but agency; that is, the power to choose how their issue can be resolved or avoided in the future.
  • Consult with a member of the STAQ Executive if you are unsure how to resolve an issue. It may also be appropriate to liaise with the STAQ Executive Officer.
  • Keep a record of the complaint and your response in as much objective detail as you are able to give, and email this to a member of the STAQ Executive for discussion.
  • Active users of STAQ social media accounts should have notifications enabled.

A clear policy regarding posts made by others on a STAQ social media platform (i.e. the STAQ Facebook Page) that contain inflammatory, derogatory or offensive language should be made available to users of that platform in the “About” page of that platform (via link if necessary).

Download the STAQ Social Media Policy (PDF)