AACN Social Media Policy

These guidelines were developed by the Public and Professional Information Committee (PPIC) of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) in order to provide guidance about communication via any social media account which purports to represent AACN or any of its committees or special interest groups. AACN encourages the use of social media in order to promote scientific and educative material and for charitable purposes only.

These guidelines apply to all social network channels, including but not limited to: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, wikis, TikTok, and Instagram.

  1. Only those accounts approved by the PPIC and the AACN executive committee are official accounts of AACN. Any other accounts should be reported to the PPIC or board of directors immediately. These official accounts must submit their written approval process to the PPIC and update it as changes occur.
    1. Any account using the AACN name, abbreviation or logo must be affiliated with a formal committee, subcommittee, or special interest group approved by the AACN BOD.
    2. These accounts may not be affiliated with a personal email and must be associated with a separate email account for that committee, SIG, etc.
    3. Passwords to all accounts must be on file with the PPIC and updated as changes are made.
    4. In order to obtain approval the group must submit the online form (available at https://theaacn.org/aacn-social-media-account-registration/ ).
  2. All official accounts must be monitored by an administrator designated by AACN or the relevant subgroup, who has the authority and ability to remove content and/or people who violate these guidelines. This administrator will be responsible for communicating with the PPIC with regard to approval processes, new content of relevance to AACN as a whole, and any concerns raised about any official AACN social media account.
  3. Accounts may not be used for illegal purposes, including but not limited to defamation, libel, and violation of criminal or civil laws.
  4. Accounts may not be used to campaign or announce anyone’s intention to run for an elected position, or to endorse candidates for boards or positions with AACN or other psychological, professional, or governmental organizations.
  5. Accounts may refer to or link to an article or news item with typical citations, links, or brief quotes; however, no full-text version of copyrighted material should be posted on any social media channel.
  6. Accounts must avoid attacks on individual persons or groups of people based on their identity, professional or personal.
  7. Accounts must obtain written (via email) permission prior to sharing personal images, names or linking to personal social media accounts.
  8. Accounts may not discuss rates charged, exert collective pressure on payors, insurance companies or institutional salaries.
  9. AACN social media accounts may not be used for commercial purposes. That is, they may not include posts whose primary purpose is to advance the business or financial interests of any person or entity or otherwise promote financial benefit to the author. This includes advertisements, notices of rental space, or solicitation of members to purchase products or services. The exception to this rule is that AACN may use its officially sanctioned accounts to promote its products and services.
  10. Accounts must avoid endorsement or electioneering for any candidate for political office.
  11. AACN accounts may provide links to other sites or channels. Such links are provided for convenience and do not reflect any endorsement by AACN with respect to the provider of such link or the quality, reliability or any other characteristic or feature of such link.
  12. Prior to posting information from AACN members, students or affiliates, they shall be provided with the following information:
    1. When agreeing to post information on AACN-approved accounts, participants are granting AACN a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such postings (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.
    2. AACN shall have the right, in its sole discretion to review, refuse, monitor, edit or remove any content that is available on the official accounts. AACN expressly disclaims all responsibility or liability to you or any other person or entity for the performance or nonperformance of such content review.
  13. Should an account violate any of these policies, the PPIC/BOD will initiate disciplinary action which may include:
    1. Required pre-approval of all content by the PPIC for a period of no less than 6 months
    2. Suspension or removal of the official account
  14. Consumers of AACN social media content acknowledge and agree that they assume all risk associated with the use of any content. This includes use of any links provided, which are provided for convenience and do not reflect any endorsement of the link content or provider. Use of any link is solely at the risk of the Consumer.