Community Interaction and Moderation

Interaction

Engaging with your followers and the UHD community on behalf of the UHD social media profile that you manage is encouraged. Interacting with your audience in the comments can increase your reach and sparks great engagement.

Always be mindful of your voice and tone when interacting with others online to ensure that what you do and say is in line with UH’Ds mission and values. Think carefully about the context of what you are saying to make sure it cannot be misinterpreted.

Moderation

The university is committed to fostering an educational environment that allows for freedoms of speech and expression in accordance with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Posts, comments, and messages left by other users that are protected by the First Amendment may not be deleted and users cannot be blocked. Additionally, comment filtering must be disabled or set to the lowest possible setting.

Profile administrators must consult with UHD Communications before taking any action against content on social media profiles. Profile administrators may refer social media activity that is inconsistent with the platform’s guidelines or terms of service to the applicable social media platform and/or authorities for appropriate action.

Title IX Obligation *Important*

University employees have mandatory reporting obligations and must report any incident of sexual misconduct to UHD Equal Opportunity Services, including reports of potential sexual misconduct made on social media or received by direct message. Additionally, certain university employees also have reporting obligations and must report any incident of discrimination to UHD Equal Opportunity Services, including reports of potential discrimination made on social media or received by direct message.

Crisis Communication

In moments of crisis or emergency, only share posts coming from the flagship University of Houston-Downtown social media accounts, UHD ALERT, the UHD Police Department, and UHD Office of Emergency Management. Only create new posts when authorized by university officials.

In the event that your college/department becomes involved in a crisis or receives a high volume of negative feedback for any reason, reach out to UHD Communications. Do not make any statements on behalf of the university. Additionally, please note the university’s protocol on issuing institutional statements.