Concerns about the limitation in social media were brought up by Ball State University professors because of the implementation of a social media policy.
Brad King, Emerging Media Initiative fellow and assistant professor of journalism, said he was worried about the regulations on the employees' use of social media and how they might discourage the use of interactive communication.
'I understand that the university has to do this. Any time there is any kind of communication, they have to come up with their own standards,' he said. 'In terms of practices and things that I can do with my personal accounts, those I have a little more of a problem with that, simply because we live in a time and place where the personal and the professional are blended together so much.'
The policy lists 16 guidelines that determine what school employees should post on social media and personal Web sites. University departments also will have to notify University Marketing and Communications about their use of the social media Web sites to promote themselves.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for Marketing and Communications, said the purpose of the policy is to establish coordination on what university departments and employees are doing on the internet, making sure there is no confusion between 'institutional voice' and 'personal voice.'
'Communication is more powerful when it's consistent, clear and requires a tremendous amount of coordination,' he said. 'Our goal was to ensure individuals can separate what comes from them and what comes from the university.'
Proudfoot said student employees that are expected to follow the policy would be ones with access to student or university confidential information.
'The policy really applies to employees speaking on behalf of the university,' he said. 'It's hard for me to think of a circumstance where a student employee would have that kind of authority, and it applies to employees disclosing protective information that's confidential. Student employees are not exposed to that information.'
The policy does not apply to student organizations. However, there should be distinction between Ball State and the student organization at the social media account, Proudfoot said.
'From a learning perspective it would not be appropriate to play an oversight role in the student activities, but at the same time our job is to protect our brand,' he said. 'By creating a clear visual and stylistic distinction between the two, an average audience member would identify the difference.'
According to a cover letter sent by Proudfoot, the president's cabinet evaluated the effects of social media on the university. University Marketing and Communications began working on the policy during the Fall Semester. Social media policies are a growing trend among U.S. corporations in which internet posts have gotten greater surveillance.
With the new policy, different views and concerns were voiced by some faculty members.
King said although the guidelines are not very restricting, there might be some problems for the community to interact on social media Web sites.
'These technologies, from the time they were developed in the 60s, are all about communication, and they're all about this read-write interaction,' he said. 'Everybody gets to contribute at [these technologies] and when you come in and put a policy in place you alienate people.'
Dominic Caristi, associate professor of telecommunications, said he was not so concerned about the new policy.
'I think University Marketing and Communications is concerned about the image of the university and they are looking at any venue that displays it,' he said. '[Social media] is the latest venue.'
Contrary to some concerns, Caristi said UMC's move was one of prevention.
'I don't think the university will be looking for people doing this,' he said. 'It's more of an awareness campaign than enforcement.'
Proudfoot said UMC will work on clarifying some of the blurry areas in the policy.
'We created a flexible framework that would adapted and adjusted over time,' he said. 'Institutional and organizational use of social media is a new thing to everyone in the world, not just Ball State University, so we are adapting to new tools and their implications. We will work on it over time.'
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