Whether you serve in a church or ministry, having your staff use social ministry to communicate is a very good thing. The social media tools available today are easy, cheap, effective, and far-reaching. It is fascinating to think how easy it is to communicate with your audience.
Just like everything else in life, there is a downside.
Your Church Blog points out a few things we should be careful of:
Potential liabilities concerning copyright law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), discrimination, privacy, and defamation have forced churches to consider the potential problems caused by their staffs interacting with others online.
Their article, Social Media Agreements – A New Normal, introduces the risk issues and then contains a list of seven very simple points to make in establishing expectations for your staff when using social media. I would love to quote the points, but think that would not be appropriate since it is the core of the article. Check out the article for yourself.
There are lots of sample policies of how to use social media available on the Internet. If you were to start with the basic points provided by Frank Sommerville in the above post, you’d be off to a good start.
By the way, the answer to the question posed in the title to this post: yes.
The post mentioned above also has a link to a $14.95 e-book titled Using Social Media Safely. I have not read the book, but based on the list of articles and authors, it looks to be a great resource. Check it out if that is something you are researching.
Unfortunately, I don’t think most realize the liability involved with social media. While it is cheap and far-reaching, it can also do a lot of damage if not managed properly.