People are talking about your ministry, both within the walls of your organization and outside as well. It can’t be helped nor stopped. But, it can be managed, if necessary, and with wisdom.
Having a Social Networking Policy and Usage Guideline for your Church is only needed if the ministry decides that it is needed; there are a number of church’s that don’t have one and they’re doing just fine without it as well. It’s up to you.
I’ve blogged a bit about the tensions that may arise and what a good base-line strategy might be, as well as the reasons to be anxious as well.
But, assuming that you’re moving forward with creating one, for whatever reason, here are some things to consider:
- Define – Make sure you define what “Social Networking” and “Social Media” is to your organization specifically so that every one knows exactly what you mean when you use the terms. You can be as specific or as general as necessary.
- Purpose – Make sure that you have a clear and defined reason and purpose for the policy and guidelines. The question that may arise is “Why have one?” You need to be able to answer that appropriately.
- Benefits – Make sure you innumerate the benefits of not only Social Media and Social Networking but also the benefits of having a policy as well. Focus on the positive and how it can be extremely beneficial to not only use it but manage it wisely and appropriately.
- Audience Matters – Make sure to consider all parts of your audience, from those that “get” it to those that may be “new” to it. Make sure you can account for your audience and provide guidelines that matter to both.
- Educational Opportunity – Make sure that you present a clear stance and platform for educating your staff. This is a great opportunity to teach as well as “preach” to them.
- Rights and Privileges – Define these, if you can, and if necessary. What are you able to do versus what you can’t do.
- Contextualize – Sometimes you may need specific guidelines per ministry segment. Some guidelines may be different for those engaging with young teenagers in social networking as opposed to just engaging generally.
- Legal – Make sure you take into consideration the legal ramifications of not following some governmental laws. Also, make sure that you can pull from the Terms of Service and Privacy Policies of the Social Networking services that you congregation and staff use.
- Connection and Community – Ultimately social networking is about connecting and community. Make sure to tie it back to this and to acknowledge this powerful fact.
- Confidentiality – Make sure to touch upon proprietary information as well as confidential information that may be at risk. Make note of what this information is and where/when it can be shared.
- Productivity – Talk about productivity in terms of social networking. We all know how quickly these sites can take away from our busy work days.
- Value – At the end of the day this policy should create value, not limit it or discourage it. Can you say that your guidelines made things “better” or “worse?”
Anything else would you add? Are you going to have one for your Church? Do you see it as necessary?
Bill Whitt says
I'd like to see an example of one. I know a company can limit its own branded pages on its blog or My Space and Facebook… but can it limit what its employees write on their own pages? If anyone has a sample policy, I'd love to read it.
stephenbateman says
Yea have you seen employee guidlines w/ regard to social media? Obviously an organization would like to give as much freedom as possible…
I see a lot of disclaimers that say: "I am so and so, but I don't necessarily represent ___ organization" but it's the lead pastor, so it's not…..convincing.
Brad Davis Seal says
An amazing resource on non-profits and social media policies: Beth's Blog: Does Your Organization Need A Social Media Policy? http://bit.ly/1TLc4M
Social media policy example from Headset Bros: http://bit.ly/8R2Nf
Brad Davis Seal says
An amazing resource on non-profits and social media policies: Beth's Blog: Does Your Organization Need A Social Media Policy? http://bit.ly/1TLc4M
Social media policy example from Headset Bros: http://bit.ly/8R2Nf
human3rror says
thanks for this!
Cheryl says
We are interested in a statement for use with our own Social Media Page. We want to share the blessings, growth, announcements, graduations, etc. Some of these would be shown with candid photos. Is there a form/waiver that we could give our members to opt in or out of the photos? We don’t want to assume that everyone is willing, and don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by posting a photo of them. Also, to protect us legally from doing so, even if unintentional.