Think before posting

To avoid hurting people and harming your own future, with online behaviour, take time to consider how your words could affect others before posting. Always ensure the words you choose show respect to others even if you have a disagreement. Follow Griffith’s Social media etiquette guide. If you make a mistake, admit it and fix it quickly.

Protect yourself

Never assume your personal details and posts are immune from hostile actions or theft. Take the time to set your privacy settings and take care where, when and what you are posting. Your information can be used against your best interests, including bullying and identity theft. Treating others poorly online can have legal consequences (such as with defamation or copyright infringement), and in some cases be a criminal offence (such as with hate speech, stalking or harassment).

Professional consequences of social media use

If you are taking a course which will result in a professional qualification (such as teaching, medicine or law) you may have to meet standards of behaviour set by the professional accrediting body. These rules generally expect you to uphold the reputation of the profession, and often cover a very broad range of conduct, including online conduct. Content you post on social media could result in you being in breach of these rules, and if serious, could result in you losing the opportunity to pursue your chosen profession. Aside from regulated professions, many employers now carry out an internet search on individuals before making offers of employment. You should always bear this in mind when posting anything, and when setting the privacy settings for your social media accounts.

Protect others

If you read a post that is not OK, you can do something to help. You can report concerning behaviour or delete or block the person behaving badly.

Use judgement when engaging with social media content

Be wary of false or misleading information on social media. The occurrence of ‘fake news’ has grown rapidly with the rise in social media activity. You can avoid contributing to this problem by checking the authenticity of stories and authors and if in doubt, don’t share it, rely on it, or use it as a trusted resource in your studies or any other aspect of life. For more information about validating your information sources go to the Research for assignments website.

Student conduct

The Student Charter Framework expects students to communicate with University staff and other students with courtesy and respect including via social media.

Our Student General Conduct Procedure covers behaviours on Griffith social media accounts:

• where students note an affiliation with the University
• which use University networks (including Wi-Fi)
• which use social media within courses and/or research.

Poor behaviours include using discriminatory hate speech, harassing, bullying, intimidating or threatening any University employee or student at the University. (See the IT Code of Practice and IT Acceptable Use Guidelines for expected conduct). These can result in serious penalties, such as enrolment suspension or termination. Where students are also Griffith employees, the relevant staff policies can apply.

Using social media for study and assignments

Discussing your learning experiences though social media can be very beneficial. However, remember that academic integrity also applies when online. Plagiarism and soliciting others to assist with individual assignments is against University policy. In addition, you must not provide assessment answers or post course materials on shared public spaces.