District Social Media Guidelines

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  4. District Social Media Guidelines

Social media is a communication tool used for interaction between the North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) and the greater community, including, but not limited to prospective and current students, residents, alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, legislators, as well as community and business partners. It also functions to promote the District’s branding and educate students, potential students, staff, and the community about NOCCCD’s mission and values.

NOCCCD’s Public & Governmental Affairs Department is responsible for promoting, regulating, and protecting the integrity of the District’s identity, trademarked names, and branding marks. The District may pursue all available recourse to block, remove, or delete social media activity that fabricates an appearance of an endorsement by the District or makes an inappropriate or unauthorized use of any intellectual property held by NOCCCD.

Official NOCCCD Social Media Accounts

NOCCCD supports and encourages the use of its social media channels. The use of social media by NOCCCD and its campuses serves a variety of official communications, business, educational, research, service, operational, safety, marketing, and management purposes.

Official social media accounts are channels authorized to represent NOCCCD, its campuses, programs, departments, offices, and other official entities within the District. These channels and those managing or contributing to the channels are publicly perceived as authorized representatives of those entities. The creation and administration of official social media accounts must be authorized by the District’s Public & Governmental Affairs Department. To ensure proper maintenance and oversight, all official social media accounts must be managed by an employee of the NOCCCD Public & Governmental Affairs Department.

Official social media accounts must operate in accordance with all state and federal laws, District policies, regulations, and guidelines. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in revocation of social media privileges.

The official NOCCCD social media accounts include:

The Office of Campus Communications at Cypress College, Fullerton College, or North Orange Continuing Education may decide to authorize other campus-affiliated social media channels or accounts.

Guidelines and Restrictions

Each NOCCCD campus, including Cypress College, Fullerton College or North Orange Continuing Education, will create and publish Social Media Guidelines with specific procedures for the development and administration of social media accounts within their campus communities. Campus Social Media Guidelines will use language and terminology consistent with the District Social Media Guidlines.

Users should remember that all information posted on an official NOCCCD social media site must comply with these Social Media Guidelines, District Board Policy & Administrative Procedures, as well as applicable law and federal and state regulations.

NOCCCD, through the Public & Governmental Affairs Department, reserves the right to determine if content posted to sanctioned social media sites conforms to District guidelines. Content must also adhere to any proprietary “code of conduct” or “terms of use” stated by the social media platform used.

Only the official District social media accounts are authorized to use the NOCCCD logo. All other accounts may reference the District name in text only and cannot use the logo, any modified version of the logo, or create unofficial branding elements. This is to maintain consistency and protect the integrity of the District’s brand.

Maintaining accessibility is required by law and reflects NOCCCD’s commitment to inclusive communication. All digital content must comply with current Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA (or the most current standard).

For social media, this includes:

  • Writing descriptive alternative text for images when necessary
  • Using Pascal Case in multi-word hashtags (e.g.: #TheDestinationDistrict) 
  • Providing captions, transcripts or descriptive text for videos 
  • Avoiding low-contrast or text-heavy graphics 
  • Minimizing excessive motion and/or flashing imagery in graphics or video content
  • Avoiding the use of repeating emojis when possible.
  • Using emojis sparingly in posts and place towards the end of the post, if possible. This allows screen reader users to skip emoji descriptions without missing important information.

For platform-specific accessibility guidance, refer to: 

For additional technical standards, see WCAG 2.1 AA and NOCCCD’s Digital Accessibility resources.

Creating an Affiliated District Account

Currently, NOCCCD does not approve social media accounts by any affiliated department, division or group. All official NOCCCD social media accounts are created and maintained by the Public & Governmental Affairs Department.

NOCCCD Digital Advertising

All uses of digital advertising that incorporate the NOCCCD logo or name must be reviewed and approved by the NOCCCD Public & Governmental Affairs Department.

Community Standards

NOCCCD encourages everyone to participate and connect with the people and content on its social media platforms and 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.

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 District, its employees, or the Board of Trustees. We are not responsible for unanswered posts or inaccurate information posted by others.

The purpose of the official social media sites for NOCCCD is to discuss business matters related to the District, as identified and raised by the District or NOCCCD’s departments and programs. We encourage the public to submit comments that are on topic to the corresponding post.

Acceptable online participant conduct is similar to that of the conduct expected in the classroom or an office on campus. Therefore, the following is expected of the online community that engages with NOCCCD’s digital presences: 

  • Respect: Treating everyone with civility, courtesy, tolerance, and acceptance, and recognizing the worth, dignity, and unique characteristics of each individual. 
  • Accountability: Taking personal responsibility for one’s own online actions and decisions. Fair and just actions utilizing equitable processes in decision making. 
  • Compassion: Caring for others, both within and apart from the online NOCCCD community. Providing services to others in a manner that reflects our commitment to them and to their well-being. 

The NOCCCD Department of Public & Governmental Affairs is responsible for creating, managing, and removing content from any of the District’s official social media sites. This office is also responsible for monitoring postings and taking appropriate action when necessary.

The District may—but has no obligation to—remove, hide, block, report, and/or monitor content or accounts posting on the NOCCCD social media accounts that are determined, at the District’s sole discretion, to violate our posting guidelines. NOCCCD does not tolerate any form of online hatred, bigotry, prejudice, harassment, discrimination, intimidation, exploitation, or abuse.

Every effort will be made to delete user-posted content deemed inappropriate, including:

  • Posts in violation of Federal, State, or local laws 
  • Posts in violation of the NOCCCD Board Policies and/or Administrative Procedures 
  • Political activity posts, including, but not limited to, urging the passage or defeat of any ballot measure or candidate
  • Posting confidential information is strictly prohibited, such as that which is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA), or District policies 
  • Posts may not include non-consensual sharing of personal identifiable information such as social security numbers, telephone numbers, email or physical addresses, financial data or photographs
  • 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
  • Commercials or soliciting for personal gain or profit

  • Posting content that violates copyright or intellectual property laws and policy is also prohibited, such as sharing copyrighted materials without permission 

  • Spam posts/comments are not permitted, including successive off-topic posts by one or more individuals or groups or repetitive posts copied and pasted or duplicated by one or more individuals or groups

  • Posts violating California Penal Code 653.2 including: 

    • Intentionally placing another person in reasonable fear for their safety, or the safety of their family, by means of electronic communication without their consent to cause the person unwanted physical contact, injury, or harassment and/or 

    • Electronically distributing, publishing, e-mailing, hyperlinking, or making available for downloading personal identifying information such as a digital image of the person or an electronic message of a harassing nature about another person to incite or produce unlawful action

NOCCCD’s official social media sites are forums that are limited to the specific topics identified and raised by the individuals who manage each site. Users who submit content to these sites concur that they have read, understand, and agree to the terms and conditions under such use.

Laws, Policies & Procedures

Social media and blogging accounts will adhere to both state and federal law including those that pertain to harassment and criminal threats. Violators will be suspended from all NOCCCD social media activity until further notice and may be reported to local police.

No Expectation of Privacy

The District’s electronic and digital communications systems, and all the information stored thereon are the property of NOCCCD. Employees should have no expectation of privacy whatsoever in any kind of information or communications transmitted to, received or printed from, or stored or recorded on any of these systems. 

The District reserves the right to monitor all employee usage of these systems and to intercept and review any data or communication, in any format, using these systems, including but not limited to social media postings and activities. Users consent to such monitoring by their acknowledgment of this policy and use of such assets and systems. 

The District may store copies of such data or communications for a period of time after they are created and may delete such copies from time to time without notice. Do not use the District’s electronic communications assets for any matter that you desire to be kept private or confidential.

Additional Resources

If you have any questions regarding NOCCCD social media accounts, please contact the Public & Governmental Affairs Department.

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