Social Media Guidelines
The Doctor is Online:
Physician Use, Responsibility, and Opportunity in the Time of Social Media
Special thanks to Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media for sharing this great resource.
Social media tools have allowed people and organizations to go beyond the physical boundaries of location, language, culture, and other limitations to connect and collaborate in powerful ways.
We strongly encourage the Feinberg School of Medicine community - faculty, staff, researchers, students and alumni groups - to engage, build a network of like-minded scholars, stay connected, share information, and help us promote the medical school's goals and vision. Social media technologies, such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, are primarily communication tools. They create opportunities for us to take part in global conversations and reach out to the broadest possible audience.
Your professional activities online and off-line reflect both on you and our organization. Therefore, it is important that any members of the Feinberg community engaging in online dialogue are informed of established guiding principles and available tools.
The Office of Communications provides the following guiding principles to raise awareness of current best practices and help members of the Feinberg community participate within social media channels. For additional employee code of conduct information, please refer to the Faculty handbook (pdf) and the Staff handbook (pdf).
Social Media Guiding Principles
Be transparent: Identify yourself so you can provide authenticity to your online contributions.
Be respectful: Carry the professional norms of any Feinberg office or function onto the social media platforms. Encourage feedback and two-way communication.
Be generous: The Internet is about connecting with links. The more you link to relevant material, the more contacts you will make and the more popular your own content will become. The process of hyperlinking and allowing others to contribute content will help you strengthen group membership.
Add value: Contribute your observations, experiences, and opinions related to topics you are passionate about and understand well; cite your sources and separate opinions from facts. If you decide to engage in the blogosphere, do so with a commitment to post regularly and with professional conduct.
Aim for quality: Think about what you want to say; understand the context and the rules of engagement, before you post your comments. Make your content rich and interesting for others to read and share.
Use disclaimers: What you write is ultimately your responsibility. If you choose to identify yourself as a Feinberg employee or discuss topics related to the medical school on any social media channels, many readers will assume you are speaking on behalf of our organization. Use disclaimers: make it clear that the views you are expressing are yours alone and not necessarily those of Feinberg.
Be mindful of copyright laws: Show proper respect for the laws governing copyright and fair use of copyrighted material owned by others. For additional information, refer to these additional resources: Copyright Basics (Northwestern University Library) and the US copyright office.
If you receive media inquires about Feinberg or requests to arrange interviews: Notify Marla Paul, Health Sciences Editor, at marla-paul@northwestern.edu.
If your unit is planning to utilize multiple social media platforms to share information or augment a communication campaign, the Office of Communications can advise you in developing a social media strategy. Please send your inquires to Daniela Petrovska at d-petrovska@northwestern.edu.
This page last updated Dec 9, 2011