How to handle comments on social media

Reply, hide, delete or ignore?

As a public authority, we have an obligation to maintain our official channels. We are responsible for the material we publish and must also monitor the channels continuously and act quickly if comments need to be replied to, hidden or deleted in accordance with our guidelines.

Reply to questions and comments

Questions on social media are considered as public documents in the same way as other cases received by the Authority. Questions addressed directly to the Authority should be answered as soon as a response is available. If a question is very complex and therefore requires more time to answer, you should inform the questioner accordingly. You may also refer them to the appropriate function within the University.

Important to bear in mind when replying to questions or comments:

• Att snabbt ge respons skapar tillförlitlighet och uppmuntrar till ytterligare engagemang.
• Om man t.ex. publicerat ett inlägg om forskning eller andra universitetshändelser är det viktigt att, där det behövs, involvera experterna i svaret, antingen kan forskarna/lämplig funktion själva gå in och svara om de är aktiv i kanalen eller så kan svaret komma från den officiella sidan med tydlig hänvisning till att det är upphovspersonens svar.
• Om kommentaren eller frågan kräver att universitetet, som myndighet, måste fatta ett beslut eller vidta en åtgärd, ska personen hänvisas till berörd direktkontakt via e-post eller telefon.
• Det är viktigt att inte ge råd eller information i ärenden som rör enskilda personer. I sådana fall bör du hänvisa frågeställaren till relevant funktion eller avdelning inom universitetet och på så sätt flytta konversationen till e-post eller telefon. För frågor som inte rör enskilda personer kan det däremot vara fördelaktigt att ge råd och information i kommentarsfältet, så att fler kan ta del av dessa.
• Tänk på att vara opartisk och svara sakligt.
• Tänk på att svara i samma tråd/forum så att frågan inte ser obesvarad ut.
• Kommentarer eller frågor som startar ett ärende eller en polisanmälan ska alltid sparas på servern innan de raderas. Skärmdumpar kan också behöva bifogas till övriga dokument i ärendet.
• Vid kris ska du uppmärksamma närmaste chef, kommunikationsansvarig på berörd institution eller motsvarande.

Delete comment

Sometimes illegal or offensive content is posted on our social media channels, and it is important that we deal with this. We are obliged to comply with the BBS Act and remove content that violates it, and we have our own guidelines that apply in our comment fields. Always use and refer to these when handling comments.

BBS-lagen (in Swedish)

Guidelines: Commenting on the University's social media channels

Hide

LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook offer the possibility to hide comments. This means that the comment will only be visible to the person who wrote it and their contacts. This feature can be used when there is no sufficient reason to delete the comment.

Deleting

Deleting comments should be avoided as the purpose of the platforms is dialogue and discussion, but in these cases it is necessary to delete:

• If the comment violates Swedish law, is offensive, contains threats, contains personal attacks or violates the BBS Act.
  
• In the case of obvious spam messages.

Here's how you do it:

• Take a screenshot of the post.
  
• Save the screenshot in a folder on the server that you have named ‘Deleted posts’. Name the image with the type of post and the date of deletion. For example: Hot 20240614.
  
• If the situation requires it, also notify the post to the platform such as Meta or X, this is usually done in connection with the post.
  
• If necessary, send a direct message to the person explaining that you are deleting the comment and why.
  
• If there are many comments to be deleted or if it is not possible to send a direct message, you can instead write in the comment field that the posts that do not comply with the channel's comment rules are deleted. On those platforms where it is possible to link to the comment rules, this should be done. On Instagram, the link to the guidelines can be put in the profile or link in bio. Read more about this on the Account name, profile picture and account description guidelines page (link).
  

Example of a direct message to a person whose comment is to be removed:

Hi xxx,
We are happy for you to discuss our content on our social media channels, but in our comments sections we ask users to keep a good tone of voice and respect each other. We review all posts and remove material that violates Swedish law or our guidelines. Your comment does not follow our guidelines and has therefore been removed. Please respect these if you wish to continue participating in the discussion. Read more about our guidelines here (refer to guidelines in link or refer to link in profile description/bio).

Example of a comment in the comments section when multiple comments have been deleted:

We are happy for our content to be discussed, but in our comments sections we ask you to maintain a good tone of dialogue and respect each other. We review all posts and remove any material that violates Swedish law or our guidelines. There have been comments in this comment section that do not follow our guidelines, so these have been removed. Please respect our guidelines if you wish to continue to participate in the discussion (refer to guidelines in link or refer to link in profile description/bio).

Ignore

When should you ignore a question or comment on social media?

• If you have already answered the person and they continue with the same question/argument.
  
• If the comments are deemed completely irrelevant in the context.
  

Contact

Dealing with comments on social media is always a judgement call based on the situation, are you unsure how to handle a comment? Get in touch with socmedia@su.se