Participation is not mandatory but will assist in continuity, coordinator says.
By Emily Rodriguez
erodriguez734@student.alamo.edu
The public relations department is asking departments that have a social media presence to register those sites by Nov. 1 if they want to be recognized as affiliated with this college on this college’s website.
“Social media includes various different communication venues like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, any associated blogs, the list goes on, anything that is being used for social media,” Melissa Aguirre, coordinator of communications, said.
The registration form, emailed to employees, asks for the name of the page, its URL, contact information and if a profile picture needs to be made for the page.
Completed forms should be emailed to sac-pr@alamo.edu.
A hyperlinked list of registered social media will be put on a landing page, which will be a collective of all social media sites accessible by the public on the college’s website on its PR page.
Aguirre said those who choose not to register will not be linked on the landing page, but there will be no effect on the department or group’s social media site.
She said the office is asking for administrative access to each department’s Facebook page in case any are compromised or login information is needed by successors.
“The only reason we suggest it, especially with student organizations or with departments, is people often leave and don’t give anyone else admin(istrator) access. Those pages that have been created are floating out in the social media world,” Aguirre said. “For example, we have three or four right now that I’ve seen on Facebook alone that no one responds to that is not being managed or monitored or posted on.”
Aguirre said the registration process and granting administrative access is not mandatory, and a department can still register their site without giving administrative access.
“This is just a request or a suggestion to help the organization stay current. Especially in student organizations, the officers change out each semester or every year, so if there’s not someone giving access to the next person, then they no longer have access to that page,” she said. “We wouldn’t be doing anything with the page, updating it or going into any settings or anything like that. We would only be using it to give access to the next group of people.”
Currently, registration is only open for departments.
Aguirre said before registration opens for student clubs and organizations, guidelines will likely be written.
“We have not sent anything to student organizations about this. Right now, it is just departmental pages we are speaking to,” she said. “Once we create some more policies in place and rules and regulations, we would then contact the student organizations. Right now, that is not something we see as needed.”
Public relations offices across the Alamo Colleges are requesting registration of social media.
Training will be offered to assist in increasing the effectiveness of social media management.
For more information or to sign up for training, email Aguirre at maguirre60@ alamo.edu.
