Cooperative Extension IT

As the use of social media within Cooperative Extension continues to grow the issue of policies related to its use has started to emerge.  This post is to specifically address UW-Cooperative Extension’s position on the use of social media in the county Extension office.

UW-Cooperative Extension does not have a specific policy as it relates to the use of social media in the county office. It is recognized that most county offices depend on county IT resources.  Therefore it is county IT policy that should be followed. We do encourage county administrators and IT staff ato gain an understanding of the professional and educational uses of social media sites such as Facebook that faculty and staff throughout UW-Cooperative Extension are leveraging  and work with them in a way that allow them to use such sites.

We do have a general policy on the use of 3rd party applications which the use of social media does fall within, but does not address the specific issues that may arise with social media.

Click to download: Third Party Application Guidance and Policy

If a county does not have a policy on the use of social media the following resources may be of benefit:

• Designing Social Media Policy for Government (free 8 page guide, .pdf)
• Social Media Governance Database – database of policies for government, non-profits and others

We see this as an area that will continue to grow. We believe that responsible, professional, educational and scholarly use of social media is possible and encourage our county based colleagues to engage in its appropriate use.