The Office of Marketing and Creative Services has prepared these guidelines to help you quickly establish an official presence for your Duke Medicine entity/department on Facebook.

You will need to have a personal Facebook account to create a page for your entity in Facebook.

This document does not address how to conduct yourself online. Please refer to Duke's privacy policies at http://hipaa.duke.edu/.

Ask us a question about using social media on behalf of Duke Medicine.

A Few Words about Facebook

Facebook is a closed community available to people who have Facebook accounts. Depending on how you set your privacy settings, information you post within Facebook is usually only available to others within the community. People who don't belong to Facebook can see your default page, but they can't interact or click deeper. Something to keep in mind as you determine level of effort for this.

Page or Group?

Pages can only be created to represent a real public figure, artist, brand or organization, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity. Groups can be created by any user and about any topic, as a space for users to share their opinions and interest in that subject.

As official representatives of Duke Medicine, in general we should create pages if the goal is to market your entity. Pages are open to all Facebook members and allow for wide participation.

A group would be an option if you need to have closed membership, in which you only allow specific people to see and participate. In a group, the administrator must approve all members before they are allowed in.

Your Duke Medicine entity should not be created as a personal account.

Type of Page

You have a couple of options when you create a page. Your choice affects the type of information you can display.

Local Business or Place: Includes fields for an address, hours, phone, Web site links. Good for specific locations like Duke University Hospital or departments.

You'll need to select a subcategory for your page. The best choices for Duke Medicine entities include:

• Hospital/Clinic
• Health/Medical/Pharmacy
• Education
• School

Company, Organization, or Institution: Another option if your group doesn't fall well into the local business or place category. We've placed Duke Medicine in this category under the subcategory "Non-Profit Organization."

Enter name: Use official full name to help keep your page distinct from other Duke Medicine pages and maintain brand consistency.

Info

This area is where you enter the details about your entity. What you can enter depends on the type of page you created. Go to the Info page and click "Edit Information." Be sure to expand the "Detailed Info" section to add the most information.

Profile Image

Please select a profile image that meets brand standards. Here are some that you can use if you aren't sure what to pick:

Duke Medicine logo

Medical Center images

If you have question about whether your image meets Duke Medicine brand standards, contact us or explore the brand guidelines.

Applications

Applications add more functionality to your page. By default, many applications are already on. You access Applications by clicking "Edit page" in the right column.

Here are some suggestions related to Applications:

• Remove discussion board unless you can dedicate resources to monitoring discussions. Same goes for reviews.
• Post as many photos as you can. Photos are among the most popular content types on Facebook, but make sure you have the rights to the images you post and that you are not exposing patient PHI. Read DUHS's Social Networking Privacy Guidelines (PDF).
• There are many additional applications you can add beyond the basics, such as RSS readers. A good way to find useful applications is to see what other Pages you like are using, then add them to your own page.

Admins

After a page is created, you can designate multiple people with edit rights to the page. This is a great way to share the work. Admins must have Facebook accounts.

As an admin, you are committing to upkeep on your Duke Medicine Facebook page. This includes monitoring the page on a daily basis for comments and other interactions from fans.

If you receive negative or threatening comments, please alert Risk Management at 919-684-3277. You should remove comments that are not in keeping with the spirit of the page, such as slanderous and obscene posts.

No Duke Medicine Facebook page should have a single admin. This makes sure that you have coverage when someone is on PTO or has left the organization. In cases where you don't have an additional admin, please contact us and we will offer suggestions.

Departments should maintain a list of individuals with administrative rights. Administrators also should receive their supervisor's approval before creating a Duke Medicine Facebook page.

Protected Health Information

Facebook's greatest value is in the ability for fans to engage in dialogue with us and each other. However, Facebook is not the appropriate place to engage in clinical discussions. If a fan asks for medical advice on Facebook, please direct them to official and secure channels for advice and appointments, such as 888-ASK-DUKE (888-275-3853).

You should not post patient stories or photos if you have not received the appropriate HIPAA authorization signed by the patient and received approval from the DUHS Privacy Office. See the policies Photographing/Videotaping/Audiotaping of Patients and Authorizations for Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information for information on appropriate authorizations.

You must keep the HIPAA authorizations filed and available for review for any patient for which  you are disclosing PHI. Read DUHS's Social Networking Privacy Guidelines (PDF).

Copyright Issues

Before you post an image or other content to a Duke Medicine Facebook page, make sure you have the rights to do so. Many images used in official Duke Medicine publications and Web sites have restrictions on them. If you are unsure if you have the rights to use an image, contact us.

Publish Your Page

Your page is not available to the Facebook community until you publish it. When you have your settings where you are comfortable with them, publish the page from the "Edit page" screen.