Privacy Policy

The Social Institute Privacy Policy

Last Modified: January 2, 2025

 

Introduction

We at Win at Social, Inc. (d/b/a The Social Institute) as well as our affiliates (collectively, “we”, “us”, or “our”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Policy.  As used in this Policy, “you” are an educator, school administrator, parent or guardian, or other adult user of our Platform (as defined below).  This Policy describes (i) the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide to us when you visit the website https://thesocialinstitute.com, the website https://www.winatsocial.com and the related “dashboard” software accessible therefrom (the “Dashboard Software”), and any successor or subdomains thereof or any other websites where we post this Policy (collectively, our “Platform”), and (ii) our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

This Policy applies to any information that we collect on or in connection with your use of our Platform, including any information you provide in any forms or messages submitted by you to us through our Platform or using the contact information provided on our Platform, and any information about you transferred to our Platform from other sources.  This Policy does not apply to any other information we may collect by any other means.  In particular, this Policy does not apply to any information we may collect from students, including (i) information collected from students in connection with the web-based student experience accessible from https://www.winatsocial.com (the “#WinAtSocial Platform”); or (ii) information collected from students in connection with their participation in or application to join the TSI Student Ambassador Program (the “TSI Student Ambassador Program”), including any such information provided on or through https://thesocialinstitute.com.  If you are a student or a parent or guardian of a student who uses the #WinAtSocial Platform, please refer to the https://thesocialinstitute.com/privacy-notice/ for information about our policies and practices for collecting and processing information in connection with your child’s use of the #WinAtSocial Platform.  If you are a student or a parent or guardian of a student who participates in or who has applied to join the TSI Student Ambassador Program, please refer to our Student Ambassador Privacy Notice for information about our policies and practices for collecting and processing information in connection with your child’s involvement in the TSI Student Ambassador Program.   

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it.  If you do not agree with our policies and practices, you can choose not to use our Platform.  By accessing or using our Platform, you agree to this Policy.  This Policy may change from time to time.  When we make changes to this Policy, we will post the updated Policy on our Platform and update the Policy’s “Last Modified” date.  We will also provide notice of any material changes as explained in the section below titled “Changes to Our Privacy Policy.”  Your continued use of the Platform after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes.

 

Our Role as a Service Provider to Educational Institutions

The Dashboard Software is intended to be used as a tool for educators and school administrators to access, view, and analyze aggregated and de-identified student information collected in connection with the #WinAtSocial Platform.  K-12 schools, school districts, and other educational institutions may elect to use the Dashboard Software under contract with us (each such institution, an “Educational Institution”).

If you are an educator, administrator, or other official of an Educational Institution, the following applies only with respect to your use of the Dashboard Software (separate and apart from your use of the website https://thesocialinstitute.com):

  • We are merely a service provider to your Educational Institution permitting them to use the Dashboard Software at their facilities.  We collect information through your use of the Dashboard Software and process that information on your Educational Institution’s behalf and under your Educational Institution’s control and direction, pursuant to our contract with your Educational Institution.  
  • As between you and us, we commit to you that we will collect and process information you provide in connection with the Dashboard Software in accordance with this Policy, as part of the services we provide to your Educational Institution.  However, as between you and your Educational Institution, with respect to information about you that your Educational Institution obtains through your use of the Dashboard Software, your Educational Institution independently has the right to determine the purposes for which it will process such information and the means it will use to process such information.  Your Educational Institution is the “owner” of such information, at least as between us and them.  
  • We do not control (and are not responsible for) your Educational Institution’s policies and practices relating to the collection, use, maintenance, protection, or disclosure of information collected through your use of the Dashboard Software.  We only control (and are only responsible for) our own actions and the actions of our own service providers, as described in this Policy.  
  • We encourage you to review your Educational Institution’s privacy policy or consult with an administrator of your Educational Institution for more information about how your Educational Institution may collect, use, maintain, protect, and disclose information collected in connection with your use of the Dashboard Software.

 

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

Personal Information We Collect – Generally

We may collect several types of information from and about you in connection with your use of our Platform.  This may include information by which you may be personally identified or information about you that is maintained in personally-identifiable form (collectively, “Personal Information”).  Specifically, we (or our third-party service providers acting on our behalf) may collect the following:

  • Your full name.
  • Your e-mail address.
  • Your telephone number.
  • Any information you provide in connection with registering to use the Platform, such as a username or password.
  • Your “role” (i.e., whether you are a school administrator, staff member, teacher, parent or guardian, etc.)
  • Your job title.
    • If you are an administrator or other official of an Educational Institution who is subscribing to one or more of our services on behalf of your Educational Institution, payment information such as your credit card number, debit card number, expiration dates, security codes, and other similar or related account and authentication data necessary to process payment transactions in connection with your Educational Institution’s use of our services (“Payment Information”). Please note: the third-party payment processor(s) we have engaged to securely process payment transactions in connection with our Platform collect this information directly from you and process this information on our behalf without sharing this information with us, and we do not at any time directly store or have access to any Payment Information.
  • Your IP address or mobile device ID.
    • The Technical Information described in the section below titled “Traffic, Usage, and Computer/Device Information.”
  • Information related to Internet or other similar network activity, including browsing history, search history, and information on your interaction with our Platform or on your interaction with advertisements on our Platform or other websites and applications (“Internet Activity”).
  • Certain information collected in connection with our use of Google Analytics (as further described in the section below titled “Use of Google Analytics”), which may include your general geographic region, gender, age, interests, and language preferences.
  • Any other information (including Personal Information) you choose to provide in any forms or messages submitted by you to us through our Platform or using the contact information provided on our Platform.

How We Collect Information

We primarily collect Personal Information directly from you as you provide it or submit it to us, including in connection with signing up to obtain additional information from us (such as signing up to receive our periodic e-mails, newsletters, or other marketing and promotional information about us or our products and services), responding to a survey you have agreed to complete (including surveys administered in connection with the Dashboard Software), contacting us for service inquiries or reporting a problem with the Platform, submitting an inquiry to us using the contact methods provided on our Platform, or otherwise contacting us about our Platform or our business.  We (or our third-party service providers acting on our behalf) may also collect your Technical Information and Internet Activity automatically as you navigate through or interact with our Platform (see section below titled “Traffic, Usage and Computer/Device Information”).

In addition to collecting Personal Information directly from you, we may also receive Personal Information from industry associations, conference organizers, or other organizations with whom we partner to provide demonstrations or information sessions about our products or services.

Traffic, Usage and Computer/Device Information

Additionally, as you navigate through and interact with our Platform or interact with the e-mails and other electronic messages we send to you, we may automatically collect Internet Activity and certain traffic data, usage information, and information about your computer equipment or mobile device, such as your browser and operating system, your wireless carrier, the geographic region from which you are accessing the Platform, time-stamped logs regarding access times and duration of visits, the pages of our Platform that you visit, whether you opened the e-mail message we sent to you and whether you clicked on any links in the message, configuration data, clickstream analytics, and your actions and patterns when you use our Platform or interact with our e-mail messages (collectively, “Technical Information”).  The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include cookies that are stored on the browser of your computer or mobile device, small embedded electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) and other types of embedded code.  We collect this information to manage our content and improve users’ use of our Platform; to count and review the number of users of our Platform and their usage patterns; to track key performance indicators such as pages accessed, frequency of access, conversions (the number of users who click on our advertisements and then go on to make a product purchase), and other statistical information related to our Platform and the performance of our e-mail messages (for example, recording the popularity of certain content and verifying system and server integrity); to identify the portion of users who access our Platform via different web browsers or mobile operating systems; to recognize if a user is a return user of our Platform; to store information about a user’s visits; to remember a user’s preferences; and for similar purposes in connection with monitoring, operating, maintaining, and improving our Platform.  Third parties may also collect Technical Information, Internet Activity, and other information on our behalf as further described in the sections below titled “Use of Google Analytics,” “Use of Personal Information for Marketing Purposes,” and “Tracking and ‘DO NOT TRACK’.”

 

How We Use Your Information

Generally

We may use the information we collect about you or that you provide to us, including Personal Information, to: 

    • Provide our Platform and its contents to you.
    • Provide you with information, products, or services you request from us.
    • Authenticate or otherwise verify your identity in connection with your requests and inquiries via the Platform or otherwise.
    • Process purchases you have made through our Platform, including by transmitting your Payment Information to the third-party payment processor that we or our third-party service providers use for securely processing payment card purchases.
    • Provide you with support and respond to your inquiries and support requests relating to our Platform, including to investigate and address your concerns and to monitor and improve our responses.
    • Update and maintain subscription, e-mail, or mailing lists (such as our e-mail lists to receive newsletters or alerts by e-mail).
    • Carry out the advertising, promotional, and marketing purposes as described in the section below titled “Use of Personal Information for Marketing Purposes.”
    • Help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our Platform, databases, and other technology assets and our business.
    • Perform research and development activities, which may include, for example, conducting data analyses in order to develop new products and services or to improve existing products and services, and performing quality control activities.
  • With respect to Technical Information, fulfill the purposes described in the section above titled “Traffic, Usage, and Computer/Device Information.” 
  • With respect to aggregated and de-identified information, fulfill the purposes described in the section below titled “Use and Disclosure of Aggregated or De-Identified Data.”
  • Notify you about changes to our Platform, our other products or services, or this Policy.
  • Develop and administer user surveys.
  • Respond to lawful requests for information through court orders, subpoenas, warrants, and other legal processes or obligations.
  • Enforce any contracts between you and us, including for billing and collection, or for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
  • Evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which information (including Personal Information) held by us is among the assets transferred.
  • Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide the information.
  • Serve any other purpose that we describe when you provide the information and for any other purpose with your consent. 

Use of Personal Information for Marketing Purposes 

We (and certain third-party service providers acting on our behalf) may use your information (including Personal Information) for advertising, promotional, and other marketing purposes in various ways.  This includes:

  • Providing you with informational and promotional content and materials regarding the Platform and our own products and services, such as advertising and promotional information about our products and services or information about special offers or promotions related to our products and services.
  • Providing you with informational and promotional content and materials regarding the products and services of affiliates or third parties with whom we have partnered that we believe may be of interest to you.
  • Personalizing your Platform experience and delivering content and promotional information related to your interests, including by delivering personalized e-mail content to you or by displaying targeted offers and ads to you on our Platform and third-party sites that you visit and on which we place (or our third-party service providers place on our behalf) such ads.
  • Using third-party tools (such as Google Analytics – see section below titled “Use of Google Analytics”) to advertise to third parties with similar interests, hobbies or demographic information as you.

If you do not want us to use your information in this manner, see the section below titled “Your Rights and Choices” for more information about how to opt out of such uses.

Use and Disclosure of Aggregated or De-Identified Data

We may convert or combine some Personal Information of users into de-identified or aggregated data that does not disclose any of the Personal Information of any individual user. We may use and disclose to third parties any such de-identified or aggregated data (including but not limited to traffic and usage data that does not identify you personally) for any lawful purpose.

Tracking and “DO NOT TRACK”

Tracking involves the use of cookies, web beacons, or other embedded code or tracking technologies to collect, analyze, and store information on a user’s behavior over time on multiple sites, including information on the sites visited, products viewed, products purchased, and other online interactions.  Tracking information can be used to enable companies to make interest-based (behavioral) advertising available to users on multiple sites that they visit.

We may (or our third-party service providers may on our behalf) collect Personal Information about your online activities over time and across third-party sites for tracking purposes when you use our Platform.  However, we do not currently allow third parties to collect Personal Information through or using our Platform that could be used by them to analyze and store information about your online activities over time and across third-party sites for their own tracking purposes (separate and apart from any services they provide to us in support of our permitted uses of your Personal Information as described in this Policy).

Our Platform does not respond to any “do not track” signals sent by your computer, browser, or mobile device, and if your computer, browser, or mobile device sends a “do not track” signal to our Platform, our Platform will not treat you differently from users who do not send such signals.  For more information on how to disable certain tracking technologies, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s Consumer Opt-Out page at https://thenai.org/opt-out/ and the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Assistance page at https://youradchoices.com/.

Use of Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to track and analyze certain traffic and usage statistics regarding the use of our Platform, such as the number of visitors to our Platform, how visitors are navigating to our Platform, visitors’ general geographic region information, how long individuals are visiting our Platform, and information about the equipment individuals are using to access our Platform (e.g., browser version and operating system).  Google Analytics may use a Google Analytics cookie as part of this service, and we may share certain Personal Information with Google Analytics as part of this service.  We use this traffic and usage information to gauge, internally, the effectiveness of our advertising efforts and to make improvements to our Platform and our marketing and promotional efforts.

In addition, we may use the following Google Analytics Advertising Features: 

  • Remarketing 
  • Google Display Network Impression Reporting
  • Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting
  • Google Ads (as an integrated service with Google Analytics)

By enabling these features, we and certain third-party vendors use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) or other first-party identifiers, and third-party cookies (such as Google advertising cookies) or other third-party identifiers together for various purposes.  The information collected includes demographic information about our Platform visitors and general information about our visitors’ interests.  We use the information collected through our use of the Google Analytics Advertising Features to track our Platform visitors’ patterns and behaviors, segment our audience, and to better target our advertising and marketing efforts (for our own and others’ products and services) and allow third-party vendors to do the same, for example to (1) display targeted advertisements to individuals who viewed a product or service but did not purchase the product or service, (2) target visitors from a certain geographic region with certain ads in Google search results that have previously shown a high degree of success for consumers in that region, (3) advertise our products and services across other websites that you may visit, or (4) allow Google or other third-party vendors to show you ads on websites that you visit after using our Platform or clicking on an offer or ad in one of our e-mails or in our Platform.

For more information, please review the following:

You can opt out of our use of certain Google Analytics features by updating the “Ads Settings” in your browser (https://myadcenter.google.com/home) or mobile device (www.support.google.com/ads/answer/1660762#mob), by enabling the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on in your browser (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout), or by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative’s Consumer Opt-Out page (www.optout.networkadvertising.org/).  Because those opt-out and preference control pages are specific to the individual browser used to visit it, and because those pages are not operated by us, we are unable to perform the opt-outs on your behalf.

 

Disclosure of Your Information

We may share your Personal Information with third parties in the following circumstances:

  • We may disclose Personal Information to our affiliates or to any contractors and other service providers who need to know such information (or such contractors, service providers, or other third parties may collect Personal Information directly from you on our behalf while you use our Platform) to provide services to us that support our hosting, maintenance, operation, and promotion of our Platform and our permitted uses of Personal Information under this Policy.  For example, we may disclose information to third parties in connection with the following services:

Service

Business Purpose

Survey design and development

Collect user responses to surveys administered through the Platform 

Customer relationship management and e-mail marketing

Organize, distribute, and track communications with users

Platform analytics and digital marketing

Recognize Platform visitors and deliver ads across third-party sites

Platform hosting and data management

Operate the Platform; log and record user interactions with the Platform

Online security

Secure the Platform’s digital environment 

Digital content hosting and display

Operate and display components of the Platform

File storage

Internal information and program management

Platform onboarding

Educate users on the operation of the Platform

Integrated video streaming

Provide embedded video content for users to access natively through the Platform  

 

  • We may disclose Personal Information to (or permit Personal Information to be collected on our Platform by) certain third parties as described in the section above titled “Tracking and ‘DO NOT TRACK.’”
  • We may disclose Personal Information to our affiliates or to a buyer or other successor to our business in the event of a sale of equity or assets, reorganization, merger, divestiture, or a similar corporate transaction, whether as a going concern or as part of a bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, and any due diligence review with respect to any such proposed transaction.
  • We may disclose Personal Information to comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to meet national security and law enforcement requirements or to respond to any government or regulatory request or audit. 
  • We may disclose Personal Information to enforce or apply any legal agreements between us and you, or if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users or others.
  • We may also disclose your Personal Information for any purpose disclosed when the information is provided, and for any other purpose with your consent.

We may disclose all forms of Personal Information for each of the purposes described above, including but not limited to your Technical Information and Internet Activity. 

 

Third-Party Sites and Services

Our Platform and e-mail messages to you may include links to blogs, social media, and third-party websites.  These third-party sites have their own privacy policies and terms of use and are not controlled by this Policy.  You should carefully review any terms, conditions, and policies of such third-party sites before visiting them or supplying them with any Personal Information.  If you follow a link from our Platform or e-mail messages to any third-party site, any information you provide to that site will be governed by its own terms of use and privacy policy and not this Policy.

We are not responsible for the privacy or security of any information you provide to a third-party website or the information practices used by any third-party site, including those that are accessed via links from our Platform or e-mail messages.  We make no representations, express or implied, concerning the accuracy, privacy, safety, security, or the information practices of any third-party site.  The inclusion of a link to a third-party site on our Platform or in our e-mail messages does not constitute any type of endorsement of the linked site by us.  We are not responsible for any loss or damage you may sustain resulting from your use of any third-party website or any information you share with a third-party website.

You may also be able to use certain widgets (embedded tools enabling you to access or share third-party content) in connection with the Platform.  These widgets may collect your IP Address, identify which page you are visiting on our Platform, and make the information you provide available to third parties.  The information collected by widgets is governed by the terms of use and privacy policies of the third-party operators of such widgets.

 

Your Rights and Choices

Generally

You have certain choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us.  You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies.  If you choose not to accept cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts or pages of our Platform, or certain parts or features of our Platform may not function properly.

If you do not wish to have your Personal Information used by us to contact you with promotional or informational content or messages, you may send us an e-mail stating your request to privacy@thesocialinst.com or you can opt out by simply clicking on the “Unsubscribe” or similar link in the most recent e-mail you received from us and by following the prompts that appear.  This opt-out does not apply to information provided as a result of a product purchase, customer service or support service inquiry, or other informational or transactional communications, nor does it apply to your disclosure to a third party that is acting on our behalf and under our instructions in support of our permitted uses of your Personal Information.

We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising.  However these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way.  Please refer to the sections above titled “Tracking and ‘DO NOT TRACK’” and “Use of Google Analytics” for more information regarding opting out of certain advertising and analytics features used on and in connection with our Platform.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information 

You can review, change, and request the deletion of certain portions of your Personal Information by sending us an e-mail at privacy@thesocialinst.com to request access to any Personal Information that you have provided to us, or to request to correct or delete that Personal Information.  The following will apply with respect to each such request: 

  • We will evaluate such requests on a case-by-case basis.  
  • In certain cases we cannot delete your Personal Information.  For example, we cannot continue to maintain your account and/or your subscriptions to our products or services without retaining certain portions of your Personal Information, so a request to delete certain forms of Personal Information may require the deletion of your account and cessation of services to you.
  • We also may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

 

Users Outside of the United States

Our Platform is hosted in the United States and is provided from the United States.  It is possible that certain information will be stored on servers in multiple other countries on the “cloud” or other similar distributed hosting platforms.  If you are accessing our Platform from Canada, the European Union, Asia, or any other jurisdiction with laws governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, please note that by using our Platform and providing your Personal Information to us through our Platform you are expressly and knowingly consenting to the transfer of your Personal Information from your home country to the United States and other jurisdictions as indicated above (where laws may differ from the laws of your jurisdiction) and you are expressly and knowingly consenting to our use of such Personal Information in accordance with this Policy.

 

California “Shine The Light” Disclosure

The California Civil Code permits California residents with whom we have an established business relationship to request that we provide a list of certain categories of Personal Information that we have disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year.  To make such a request, please send an e-mail to privacy@thesocialinst.com.  Please mention that you are making a “California Shine the Light” inquiry.  Please note, however, that we do not currently disclose any Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

 

Nevada Residents: Sale Opt-Out Rights

Nevada residents who wish to exercise their sale opt-out rights under Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A may submit a request to this designated address: privacy@thesocialinst.com. Please mention that you are making a “Nevada Sale Opt-Out Right” request.  However, please know that we do not currently sell data triggering that statute’s opt-out requirements.

 

Children Under the Age of 16

Except with respect to the #WinAtSocial Platform and the TSI Student Ambassador Program (which are governed by separate policies and practices governing the collection of Personal Information, at set forth in the section above titled “Introduction”), the following applies to our Platform and our products and services:

  • Our Platform and our products and services are not intended to be used by children under 16 years of age, and no one under age 16 may provide any information to us or others on or using the Platform or otherwise.  
  • We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under age 16.  If you are under 16 years of age, do not use or provide any information on the Platform or otherwise use our services, or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, IP address or mobile device ID, or any screen name or username you may use.  
  • If we learn we have collected or received Personal Information from a child under 16 years of age without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information.  If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under age 16, please contact us at privacy@thesocialinst.com.

 

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.  The safety and security of your information also depends on you.  When we have given you (or when you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Platform, you are responsible for keeping that password confidential.  We ask you not to share your password with anyone.  Unfortunately, the transmission of information over the Internet is not completely secure.  Although we have implemented security measures that we think are adequate, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to or using our Platform.  Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk.  We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on our Platform.

 

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We post any changes we make to our Policy on this page.  If we make material changes to how we treat your Personal Information, we will notify you by e-mail to the primary e-mail address specified in your account and through a notice on the https://thesocialinstitute.com website home page.  You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date, active, and deliverable e-mail address for you, and for periodically visiting our Platform and this Policy to check for any changes.  The date the Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page.

 

Contact Information

We are Win at Social, Inc. (d/b/a The Social Institute), a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Durham, North Carolina.  To ask questions or to submit comments about this Policy or our privacy practices, you may contact us: