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  • Jan 31 2020

ORF Social Media Advisory

ORF promotes free, fair and safe use of social media by its entire faculty. Social media is an integral part of promoting the institution’s events, publications and work and highlighting a researcher’s work among their peers and online academic ecosystems.

The organisation would like to highlight five basic tenets and practices the faculty must bear in mind to protect and enhance the institutional reputation and the faculty member’s own public profile and career:

1: Let your social networking, which is primarily your personal space, do no harm to you or the organisation. While you may have disclaimers on your profiles highlighting your account as your personal space, what you say or do online has a direct and undeniable effect on the organisation by association.

2: Your decorum online should reflect the acceptable decorum offline. If the content of your message would not be acceptable for face-to-face conversation, over the telephone chats, or on another medium, it should not be acceptable for a social networking site as well. You should also adhere to the guidelines of ORF’s Committee against Sexual Harassment, as is the case of your offline decorum. Abusive ad hominem attacks and threats of violence or harm in any form will not be tolerated.

3: While your social media space is your personal space, it is not a “private” space. It is also not a text message or a WhatsApp chat that is available only to a closed-user group. Your conversations and decorum online must reflect basic civility of discussion. Personal barbs and attacks directed towards an individual or an organisation are anathema. Think twice before posting and resist impulsive and/or spontaneous responses.

4: There is a difference between banter and trolling. What you post on social media should be treated with the seriousness that the medium deserves.  Tone and language on social media reflects and influences attitudes, behaviour and perceptions of users. Those affiliated with ORF must refrain from using language that can qualify as hate speech or which is discriminatory (based on ethnicity, religion, ideology, gender or sexual orientation).

5: Social media is a public platform. Understand that reckless social media posts could undermine your reputation as a serious scholar, and as a valuable member of the ORF team. Used judiciously, social media can be an excellent platform to expand the audience for your research and advertise your output. Remember, potential partners and collaborators are influenced as much by the quality of your research and work, as by your conduct online.

Advisers and content contributors to ORF and its platforms are expected to adhere to these norms regarding the use of social media. An internal review committee comprising senior fellows will address any complaints on such issues. The organisation reserves the right to take disciplinary action as per its policy which may include disassociating itself from individual(s) violating these guidelines as well as dissemination of their work.