Resources for Church Social Media Policies
Posted by Anna Belle on 06 Mar 2010 at 06:24 pm | Tagged as: Social Web
My congregation needs a social media policy. So this morning I set out on a little Web quest to look at such policies created by other churches. I bet we’re far from alone, but to my surprise, I could find almost nothing.
That said, there are a few excellent general resources. I pass them along for those who might have similar needs.
- Safe Church guidelines for social media from the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut was the closest match to what I was looking for. It has specific suggested language, and even a way to create a small booklet to distribute. I’ll be doing just that with my congregation’s Communication Committee.
- One of my favorite church blogs, New Media for Unitarian Universalists by Shelby Meyerhoff, has Does the UUA have a sample “new media policy” for congregations? It’s a list of “some general principles that may help guide congregations in their new media use.”
- Finally, 12 Tips for Developing a Social Networking Policy and Usage Guidelines for Your Church has another helpful checklist of things to consider.
Do you know of other social media policy resources for churches — particularly sample policies? If so, please let me know.
P.S. A late addition: ChurchCruch recommends PolicyTool for Social Media for quickly generating what we need.
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Hi. Take a look at uucava.org. It’s the online ministry of the UU of Arlington, VA. I created it, manage it and an the lay leader for online ministry. After you move around it a bit, I’d be happy to answer specific questions with answers that may be able to help you form a policy. We don’t have a written policy other than our church covenant which extends to our online space. Only individuals on the roster of the church, meaning those folks who are signed members, friends and inquiring friend, may receive sign in credentials to participate in blogs, comment and upload content. Otherwise about 98% of the content on the site is available to the general public. We launched in Sept. 2009. We do not have a written document that is a policy specifically for our online sanctuary. What are the component you think you need in a policy? Recommended guidelines are just that guidelines. Until you start to live in an online church built on social technology, it can be premature to cast guidelines in stone because they may squelch participation and may hamper the unique qualities of a social platform to foster relational culture in our churches. Happy to tell you more specifics, but need to understand your questions. June Herold, uucava.org
Thanks, June. Our focus is not on our own site, but when and how best to have guidelines for use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, is it okay for the president of the congregation to speak for the congregation in Facebook or must he limit himself to personal observations?
You might be interested in the upcoming webinar hosted by the Ballou Channing District of UUA entitled: “Webinar: Integrating Social Media for UU Congregations”.
Here’s the link: http://uugrowth.com/2010/02/12/social-media-webinar-registration/
Thanks, Yo. Great suggestion! I’ll pass the word on.
Hi. Sorry it’s take so long to get back to this conversation. Facebook is only important to my church for the passive evangelism it allows. Otherwise, churches that have their own social networks serve their members much better. Member retention, acquisition, ministries and church administration are far better served when a church runs its own social network. Facebook and Twitter own the people registered to them. It’s their brands that are a priority not those of a church or a business. Also all the information on Facebook and any other social tech or social media site that is not specifically owned and run by a congregation cannot be protected or manipulated to a religious institutions benefiti — with one sole exception: you can easily publish your content onto Facebook and other other big social media/technology provider when your own, church-owned network publishes it once to your site. My suggestion is that churches breakdown all assumptions associated with Twitter and Facebook. They play a role in evangelism because your parishoners can passively attract their friends and family to your church’s content when it’s posted to their Facebook profile. To me the question of a congregation president posting to Facebook and Twitter is not the issue Hope this helps. June