Thoughts on Social Media….
At our recent meetings we named “using social media” as a
goal for our committee. Most of the members attending our last meeting do not
use social media. After meeting
with Dan Alamia, here are some of my questions:
Who are we trying to reach with social media – members of
the church or people outside of the church? According to the recent communications
survey, very few of our members use the Facebook page to get their information
UUCDC. Do any of you use social media in any meaningful or useful way?
How will we monitor a Facebook page? The way Facebook works,
anyone can get to our page and “like” it – they then can post their comments
about anything they want. There is currently a conversation between Craig
Harris and a woman who is planning to visit. It’s a positive dialog. What do we
do when something negative is published on our page, either by a member or a
disgruntled visitor? Will we end
up resolving our conflicts out in cyberspace for the larger community to
observe?
Please inform me if my assumptions above are wrong. I invite
your comments.
Who are we trying to reach with social media – members of the church or people outside of the church?
ReplyDeleteBOTH
Social media can be used to publicize events, to make emergency announcements, to publicize our Justice Ministry Actions, feature LifeSpan Re Programming... everything!
The UUCDC Facebook group has over 230 members/followers. That means that there is a huge potential for using Facebook to communicate on a DAILY basis if we choose to do so.
Was the survey distributed via facebook? I f we re-issued the survey in an online response format and distributed the link via facebook - it would be interesting to see what the response was!
Facebook events serve as daily reminds for many about the event we are holding.
Facebook coudl be used to publish the musci that is played in worship each Sunday - via Spotify! We just need a church run Spotify account!
Do any of you use social media in any meaningful or useful way?
ReplyDeleteYES
Most non-profit organizations (and some government) are now using facebook in some way to stimulate interest in their mission, to drive people to their website, to communicate and stimulate discussion.
How will we monitor a Facebook page?
You have to have a paid or volunteer monitor (better a team of monitors, 2-3) who are regular facebook users and who will check=in on the page on a daily basis. If someone makes an off comment, you simply have an administrative monitor DELETE the comment or the conversation.
That said - any press is good press - and considering the while freedom of speak thing - you could possibly just let things go. they eventually roll off the bottom of the screen.
I presently monitor two pages, one for my work (a non profit) and one for my Borough (gov). To date I have never had to delete anything.
You can also, administratively - delete/ban friend/fans of the group, should someone become a problem.
I'm thrilled to see this conversation evolving. Here are a few of my initial thoughts regarding social media and blogging.
ReplyDeleteBlogging: Church member blogs are wonderful, but they require
constant and consistent updates to remain fresh and relevant. If not kept up, they can feel outdated and stale quite quickly. If one person or a team is up to that task, more power to them.
Since there are already great UU blogs out there, another option would be to post links on Facebook or on the website to the best UU blog posts of the week from the entire UU system. This would provide fresh content constantly, keep the quality of the posts high, and provide a wide variety of voices and topics.
Facebook: An important vehicle for communication, especially with
younger visitors and members. That said, Facebook isn't likely to be a significant driver of new visitors unless our updates and posts are being shared by church members and/or other organizations.
I've managed Facebook accounts for non-profits and while concerns about negative dialogue are valid, it's usually quite rare. I've always advocated a policy that as long as the dialogue isn't threatening or hateful, then transparency and openness should trump censorship. The key is to engage in meaningful dialogue without judgment. If the other person doesn't seem open to that, then it's usually best to agree to disagree and to stop communicating via FB. Or, if both parties want to continue, then offer to communicate via email instead.
I'm about to add a link on our church website to us on Facebook. After I friended UUCDC, I loved getting reminders about events. Thanks to whoever is doing that. Think we do need one or more communications committee connected people to post and monitor. Blogs are around and some are better than others. Agree completely that they need to be timely and pithy reading. Again someone willing to post and monitor is essential. I'll post on this blog some of the ones I found after we last met.
ReplyDelete