Social Media Account Approval

New social media standards have been recently released that require all social media sites with UF content to be in compliance.

University of Florida's Social Media use, guidelines, and policy implications section on Authorization of Social Media accounts states the following:

Authorization
Authorization to present a social media account as an official university activity must come from the vice president with jurisdiction over one’s unit as well as the vice president for Strategic Communications & Marketing or his/her designee. 

Further Social Media account approval guidelines were issued on November 6, 2012 from Strategic Communications & Marketing.

UF Social Media policies and guidelines, as well as approved social media sites, can be found on the UF Social Media website.

For Academic Affairs, approval is required for all units reporting to the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Student Affairs, Vice President for Enrollment Management, and Vice President and CFO.  The process for account approval is as follows:

Online Account Approval Form for Academic Affairs Units:

  • Apply for VP/SVP Approval:  If your unit is in Academic Affairs*, you may apply for account approval by the Vice President or Senior Vice President over your unit by completing this online form.  
  • Some guidelines for your social media account:
    • Please make sure your site is in compliance with University of Florida Identity Standards.
    • Please make sure the person overseeing your unit (dean, associate provost, director, etc.) has reviewed and approved the site before submitting an account approval request.
    • Your site should have some indication it is a University of Florida site.  You may provide this through use of the UF Brand Primary or Secondary Logos or information about the unit being a University of Florida department, center or college.  Please spell out "University of Florida" somewhere on the page. The use of "UF" throughout is not a sufficient identifier.
    • Applicants must attach a business plan articulating support of the unit's mission and goals with this site when you fill out your online application.
    • Disclaimer Text Required in About Section of any Facebook Pages:

      The University of Florida [description of unit if applicable] intends to educate, inform and provide updated information on [unit’s or UF’s] activities [or specify a narrower focus] and to support and promote the [unit’s or UF’s] objectives for these activities through its social media site.  All [unit or UF] comments are made by [unit or UF] designees. This site is not a public forum. Social media users may share ideas through commentary that is consistent with and furthers the objectives of a [unit or UF] post and the University of Florida [unit if applicable] reserves the right to remove any comments that do not fall within this purpose.

    • Do not promote your accounts until you have gotten full approval by the appropriate Academic Affairs Vice President or Senior Vice President and also Strategic Communications & Marketing.

Once completed, the account information will be reviewed. You will be notified when your account is approved and may verify approval on this site.

*Exemptions:  The following types of social media sites are exempt from approval:

  • UF Student Organization social media sites
  • e-Learning / Sakai sites