WhatsApp Guidance

For WhatsApp to be an effective communication tool, people need to read and engage in the information that is shared. Traffic can be high, especially in larger groups, and this can mean that people miss information or disengage with the channel of communication, which defeats the point. People can also become relaxed when communicating on WhatsApp and forget that other people can read their comments too. You want to make sure you set boundaries of what is acceptable behaviour in the group. Therefore, you should make sure that everyone in that group has brought membership to your society or part of the relevant student group.

Societies

If you are society, we suggest that you only share the WhatsApp QR code/joining link over email in the Admin Tools. You could send an email to your members with the link (see example below.)

‘Hello,

We have set up a WhatsApp group for (Society Name) members, for event information and general questions about the society. This group is for students who have brought society members only and you can join by scanning the QR code below.

Please read the following guidelines for your protection.

WhatsApp Guidance

1. Please be kind and respectful to others in the group. You might not all share the same views or opinions but please always remain polite. 

2. Mute the group to prevent repeated notifications.

3. Please give the committee time to reply.

4. Avoid messaging late at night or very early in the morning.

5. Keep discussions relevant to society.

6. Do not share individuals' information outside of the group.’

SCOs and Student Reps

If you are an SCO or Student Rep, group chats will have already been made and monitored by the SU. In this case, it is your responsibility to remind students of the guidelines (above) if conversations stray from the guidelines. Please feel free to copy and paste them into the chat.

If you desire to make a new group. We would advise asking an SU staff member to send a QR Code or joining link to your desired student group on your behalf to avoid breaching GDPR.

Conversations can easily deviate from student group information and some individuals can dominate the chat, or make other people feel uncomfortable. These situations will need to be managed carefully but also promptly. If people in the chat are digressing to personal conversations, you should remind them that your group is for society or representation information only and suggest they make a new ‘social’ group for other topics.

If someone is being disruptive or inappropriate, contact the participant privately to let them know their behaviour is not acceptable for this space. This can be a valuable learning opportunity for the participant, who might not understand why their behaviour is unacceptable. It's also useful to make personal contact in this way before taking further action since disruptive behaviour might be the result of feelings of frustration or exclusion from your WhatsApp chat.

However, if a participant continues the unacceptable behaviour, you can, and should, ‘remove’ them from your group. You can do this by clicking on the arrow to the right of their name in ‘Group Info.’ Once removed, the participant will not be able to re-join the WhatsApp group. After this please email societies@hertssu.com or reps@hertssu.com to make us aware of what is happening.