New student social media procedure
New Social Media Procedures have been published for students who use a personal account or are an administrator of a society, sports club or group account.
Published:
You can find the updated Procedures on MySurrey, under ‘Social Media’, where you can also find social media toolkit materials.
Key updates for personal usage includes:
📩 Personal messaging - the University is unable to monitor private, personal messaging apps, such as Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and direct messages on Twitter and Instagram. Students should therefore use University email, Microsoft Teams, telephone, face-to-face or virtual meetings to communicate with University staff.
Key updates for Account Administrators of society, sports club and group accounts include:
🦺Safeguards for account admins – updated consent forms, guidance on handling complaints and misconduct, and protecting free speech.
💬Clearer compliance rules – new definitions of Misuse, references to policies such as the Sexual Misconduct Procedure, Prevent, and Freedom of Speech, plus updated legal acts.
🔒 Account security – linking accounts to official Students’ Union or University of Surrey email addresses, shared access, Lead Administrators, and Multi-factor Authentication are now required.
⚖Wellbeing and sustainability – mindful usage guidance and alignment with UN goals on equality, justice, and free speech.
🔧 New social media toolkit – updated social media toolkit has been launched to support the Procedures featuring accessibility guidelines, privacy advice, and administrator resources. This can be found under the ‘Social Media’ section of our policies page.
For full details: Account Administrators Procedure | Personal Accounts Procedure