Social media guidelines

Each social media account exists of the following parts:

Profile picture/thumbnail

• More information about the Social Media Icons.

Name

• Corporate: University of Groningen
• Faculties, departments, etc.: “Faculty Name - University of Groningen” - only use UG if University of Groningen is too long to be allowed on chosen platform
• Services: “Service Name - University of Groningen” - or “Service Name - Faculty - UG”
• Try to avoid using “RUG” or “Rijksuniversiteit Groningen” as most of our platforms should be international. Exceptions of course are strict Dutch accounts, for example the Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke Partijen or the Bureau Groninger Taal en Cultuur.

Bio

• Create a short summary which includes important keywords describing your faculty or service and refer to the University of Groningen.Think about which keywords users will use to search for you on the platform and make sure those keywords are included.

Username/handle

• Use UG or University of Groningen in your handle whenever possible.

(Header photo)

Here are some examples of good social media posts:

Innovative and challenging education

• The best bachelor's programme in the Netherlands (Campus Fryslan)  (Twitter)
• Tweet from Wytze Koopal about AI-tools in education (retweet by UG) (Twitter)

Open and healthy work and study culture

• European grant for Tina Kretschmer and Ana Guerberof (Twitter)
• Purple Friday (Twitter)
• Let's celebrate Valentine's Day at the UG! (Instagram)

Interdisciplinary education and research 

• Blue Monday video - with UMCG researchers and data Lifelines (LinkedIn)
• Research Erik Heeres (Twitter)

Sharing knowledge and working with others 

• UG Explores (Instagram)
• Stories of Frisia (Twitter)
• Book about energy transition by Machiel Mulder (Twitter)

Who is the UG's social media team?

The University of Groningen social media team consists of Sophie Douwes, Digital Content Coordinator, and three student assistants: Avital, Sander and Maimoena.

Names and Favorite post:

• Sophie
• Sander
• Maimoena
• Hadassa
• Hylke
• Anne

Are you organising an event for students that you would like to promote or do you have another content request for the social media team? Send us an email at socialmedia@rug.nl and we will assess whether we can post this to (one of) our social media channels. We aim to get back to you within 2 working days.

In order for us to be able to respond to your request effectively, please ensure you provide us with the following:

• Attach a high-quality picture or video that is suitable for the social media platform you would like to be featured on. The dimensions of photos can vary, but for Facebook, LinkedIn and the Instagram feed we recommend the dimensions 4:5. For Instagram Stories this is 9:16 and for YouTube and Twitter 16:9. Please keep this in mind when submitting your request.

• Let us know which target audience you are trying to reach so we can help you find the most suitable social media platform for the post.

• Send us a link to the event or landing page, as well as any relevant hashtags or accounts that need to be tagged/credited.

• Please note that we receive a lot of requests, and we might not be able to post or share your content. We recommend emailing us well in advance as we often fill our content planner for the weeks ahead. We also recommend checking our social media guidelines for information about what types of posts we can and cannot share.

It is not your fault if you receive hateful comments or threats on social media in response to academic publications or public appearances. Using the following social media guidelines and clear measures within our university, we aim to protect our staff members.

If you are on social media, it is good to bear certain things in mind. This way, you can be sure to stay as safe as possible online:

• Be aware that - if you are active on a social media platform - you can expect comments, that may be unpleasant, or worse. Is this something you are facing? Do not react immediately, but instead distance yourself - literally and figuratively - by simply taking a time-out from the social media platform for a while. Think carefully about whether and how you want to respond to it.
  Be sure to look after yourself if you get unpleasant reactions and distance yourself more if necessary. Realize that negative attention on social media is often short-lived and blows over quickly. This does not make the situation go away, but allows you to look forward.
• Think carefully about what you want to include in your bio. Your bio is your profile description on a social medium, like the one below on Twitter:

It is helpful to share general information about you and your work here, but never share private information such as your phone number or address. This also applies to your staff page (MePa). People might be able to approach you more easily if you do share this information, but so can others with less good intentions.

In addition, make sure your work accounts are never linked to your private accounts. Use different passwords, email addresses and usernames. Check in advance what information can be found about you via Google, for example, and think about the information you do or do not want to share.

• Protect your social media accounts well, and always use two-step verification when logging in, and a password manager, such as Google's . This way, you will minimize the chances of others being able to access your account.
• The UG often tags researchers who are active on social media in posts where these researchers are mentioned. Would you rather not be tagged? Then contact socialmedia@rug.nl

• If you are active on social media, it is important to keep an eye on any comments. If possible, remove offensive reactions and report messages or reactions to the relevant social media agency. If needed, block the sender. Mute, Block, Delete, Repeat.
  Are you having to deal with harassment or threats? Then take screenshots first as possible evidence, in case you want the UG to file a report.
  Collecting evidence can be confronting. Get in touch with the contact point for threatened academics at the UG if you need help with this. In addition, you can send screenshots to veiligheid@rug.nl so that a record of the threats is being compiled.

• Are you wondering how seriously you should take online threats or intimidating reactions? Online you can find tools and information that can help you find out, such as troll-busters.com. This will help you figure out if you are dealing with fake accounts, for example.

• We often think we need to be active on social media 24/7 and have to react quickly. However, there is no harm in taking a break. In fact, it is good to periodically ‘disconnect’ from social media to give yourself a break.

Have you been receiving threats and would you like to have a chat with safety experts? Then contact the UG's contact point for threatened academics. Visit rug.nl/threat or send an email to veiligheid@rug.nl. In case of an immediate threat, call the UG's emergency number 050 363 8050 or that of the police: 112.