Social Media and Social Networking is a part of our daily lives at this point in the game and more than likely, even if you wouldn’t consider yourself a “user” of Social Media/Networking, the fact is that you are.
It’s everywhere, and that’s not just hyperbole; it’s fact.
But that shouldn’t stop you from using it, and it certainly shouldn’t make you anxious about it wholesale. But, there’s one particular thing that Pastors, Churches, and organizations should be wary of: Their staff.
You see, staff members in your church are just as prone to “idiot moves” as the next guy. We (and I include myself in here 100%, because I’ve already “messed up”) can sometimes stay stuff, blog about stuff, tweet stuff, that can be harmful to not only ourselves but our organizations that we serve.
It’s not the tools, but the “tools” who use the tools (an attempt at a lame joke there). … If that makes sense. It’s not the social networks fault, it’s the users of the social networks that may cause a ruckus.
Here are a couple of snaffus that caused a major stur in the marketplace via social networking:
- Facebook Football Firing
In March 2009, the Philadelphia Eagles fired a part time employee for his Facebook status update regarding a player being let go by the team. - Domino’s Disgusting YouTube Dilemma
In April 2009, Domino’s employees uploaded a video on YouTube showing disgusting actions they performed while preparing orders. The employees were quickly fired and later arrested. - Terrible Twitter Post
During a trip to visit a major client, James Andrews, a vice president at a global public relations firm, posted an unflattering remark about Memphis, the hometown of his client. - Twitter Worm Trouble
More of a nuisance than harmful at this point, Twitter experienced a series of worm attacks over the Easter weekend apparently spread by a bored 17-year-old. - LindedIn Fake Out
In January 2009, Trend Micro uncovered several fake celebrity profiles on LinkedIn that were reportedly spreading malware.
The above 5 were collected by a study done by SelectMinds and who also produced an informative whitepaper on the topic (download here).
You see, boneheaded moves by your staff should cause concern, not necessarily the use of the tools themselves. Providing guidance is probably helpful, and if you think it’s necessary, governance as well.
I’m more on the side of “trust” than “suspicion” (that’s what we do at North Point) so I think a few well laid principles can help, but trusting the employee base is paramount.
What do you think? Is this legitimate?
[Image from Zetson]
Good Advice: Think before you tweet….Bad Advice: Just take the words "pastor" or "church" out of your bio before you tweet.
I think it's a necessity at this point. Everyone (or at least most of the population) is on some social network. If I say bad things about my experiences at my work, it represents the whole company. Organizations (including churches) need to have a social media policy. I don't think it needs to be a "Don't say anything bad" kind of policy. It should be something more along the lines of "Think before you tweet" (Thanks chrishill). If they abuse the policy, then some consequences should follow.
In short, use common sense.
I've definitely had to delete a couple stupid latenight tweets after it was brought to my attention that the context wasn't very clear. I think education about proper etiquette is better than governance, though.
i agree. education has helped a lot… and a few reminders here and there.
I'm meeting with a healthcare client to discuss this specific topic. John, Have you seen how Mayo Clinic has embraced their social media experience? Pretty impressive in the healthcare world.
andy, i have not. show me.
http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/ – In the world if HIPAA rules and regulations, social media is quite scary to healthcare, but there are a few that are fully engaging the realm. Lee Aase, from mayo has become the healthcare social media evangelist on the inside of the industry. We vendors are leading a lot of discussion on the matter, but it is guys like Lee, who is leading the charge on the inside.
They created a one stop shop for all their blogs with mayo. Allow employees to contribute, allow patients to contribute. Their "Participation Guidelines" are a great read. Privacy rules are scary in the world of healthcare, but Mayo realized that they needed a place to engage both positive and negative. They monitor it, and it isn't an open door for anyone to post, but Lee will tell you that he does not shy away from posting a negative experience on the blog, because it actually allows Mayo to respond.
Anyway, my meeting tomorrow is with a marketing department ready to pull the trigger, we are talking to IT/Legal to get buy-in.
wow… that's nuts! let us know how that goes… would love to see a guest post on this… … ?
I'd love to. I'll hit you up on it…
BTW, I've got another guest post in the works for you. I'll shoot you the outline this weekend.
Fascinating stuff, Andy.
peace|dewde
puaha.
honestly, didn't realize my comment was a post in itself. Thanks dewde. I see your profile hints at a love for Monte Python? I just blogged about dead parrots. http://www.andydarnell.com/?p=570
That is excellent what mayo clinic is doing. Way to take the bull by the horns. There are so many other big brands that need this now. And churches will need it too. I like how mayo drives *everything* through that one blog.
Great stuff Andy.
John – I have already had 2 posts I have been asked to take off my personal site because it mis-represents what Central Christian Church is all about. I saw there point of view and took them down. But even well meaning bloggers like myself can post crap. I think that this issue is more important than the "internet celebrity" idea that you talked about a while back.
Especially the bigger the church, because take for example Central. We have almost 100 staff members. 15% have there own personal blogs, 5 different ministries have their own blogs, 50% of our staff is on twitter and about 80% on Facebook/Myspace/etc who monitors all that information? What is being said and not said and how it is communicated?
Social Media/Networking is amazing but it has no filter. We are boneheads and hotheads from time to time. How does a church censor all of the info going out?
I remember too the person who was hired by Cisco tweeting how they were going to get a nice paycheck but also hating having to work for them (the tweet was seen by a fellow Cisco employee):
http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/how-to-tweet…
Of course, there are times when we tweet or blog about something that we shouldn't have. But I'm not so sure we should get rid of it. After all, it does nothing more than reveal the fact that we're infallible and prone to the same missteps and mistakes like anybody else. The key is acknowledging it and seeking forgiveness.
yeah. in my circumstance i felt it was necessary to take down.
but, that was the first time ever… andhasn't been the last…
HAHA! THAT'S AWESOME!
[seesmic utTcyzvZoW|2ScpaRiRDl_th1.jpg http://www.seesmic.com/video/utTcyzvZoW seesmic]
Yeah… it's legit. A lot of times we tweet the first thought that comes to our head. Sometimes those thoughts aren't the best…
yeah. agreed. i do that all the time…