Social Media Ethics: A guide for church
Naples United Church of Christ (NUCC) is a place for our members and visitors to pursue their individual faith journeys and engage in our communities. To align our digital spaces with our physical spaces, we have created this guide to ethical standards for social media use.
NUCC will use social media to build community and relationships for the long-term growth of our congregation. The purposes for engaging stakeholders on social media are plenty. For NUCC, we will seek to engage stakeholders on social media and use it as a tool to communicate, build community, converse, promote the church and fulfill strategic goals. Above all, our social media practices shall align with our ministry: to welcome and affirm all.
We Will:
· We will endeavor to engage users with relevant content and conversation.
· We will be transparent and truthful without compromising personal privacy.
· We will verify facts prior to posting on social media and cite the source of information we repeat or re-post.
· We will avoid endorsements of political candidates or products. We will declare any paid affiliations, if applicable.
· We will protect personal information stakeholders share with us. We will ensure information is secure against data breaches by following data security best practices.
· We will use inclusive language, avoiding racist, sexist, ageist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, sizeist or xenophobic language. Even with the best intentions, biases can creep in, so vigilance is important during the content creation and review stages.
· We will correct/remove any language or message that is discriminatory or hurtful. We understand that language is an extension of the relationships we have with stakeholders, and we want our relationships founded on mutual trust and respect.
We Will Not:
· Mislead with our messaging
· Use emotion to provoke responses
· Contact people without consent
· Sell information to third parties
· Solicit personal information over unsecured digital sites
Images of People
To promote NUCC, it will be necessary to use images of people at the church or at church events. We will comply with Florida state laws regarding privacy and honor requests for privacy. We will seek permission to use images (faces) whenever possible. Though they may be in photographs, children will not be identified except with written permission from the child’s legal guardian. Anyone may opt-out of being photographed or identified by sending a written request to the Director of Communications. Our image use policy will be reviewed regularly by legal counsel.
Further, tagging will not be enabled on our social media platforms. In other words, people cannot tag themselves or others in photos published on NUCC social media. A member wishing to share a photo (not owned by NUCC) must post that photo on their own social media account to tag individuals.
Reputation & Crisis
NUCC is responsible for protecting its reputation as this aligns with strategic goals. We will monitor social media and the web for mentions (through keywords and web alerts). Social media monitoring aids in reputation protection by giving us the soonest opportunity to correct misinformation, communicate more effectively and increase trust from our stakeholders.
At the root of protecting our reputation is engaging with stakeholders. When someone takes the time to comment on a post or provide a review, we want to acknowledge their effort with a response. Especially negative comments and reviews will be responded to quickly, directly, and publicly. Responding to negative comments gives us the earliest opportunity to avoid crisis and enhance our reputation. Responses will always be polite and professional. Any commenter requiring more than two (2) responses will be offered direct contact information to resolve the conversation offline. If necessary, issues arising on social media will be escalated to the appropriate personnel.
Replies to comments should be made within 24 hours, preferably same business day. Social media monitoring tool will be used to alert us to urgent issues so that we can respond as soon as possible. The NUCC Social Media Policy and Practices guide will provide information on posting, setting the tone and rules for responding to comments.
In the event of a crisis, the Crisis Communication Plan (CCP) will be followed. A crisis is defined as a marked change that challenges the normal functioning of the church. (A crisis is not a negative comment or review.) During a crisis, all outbound messages will be paused, and we will monitor digital media until which time NUCC crisis spokespersons are able to respond. Details of all digital media protocols during a crisis are contained in the CCP.
Conclusion
NUCC has a responsibility to our stakeholders to use social media ethically. To do this we will engage stakeholders, respect privacy, avoid conflicts of interest, use church resources to achieve strategic goals and protect the reputation of NUCC.
References:
Blitch, K. (2021, July 19). Week 10 lecture: Crisis situations and ethics [Presentation]. University of Florida. https://ufl.instructure.com/courses/428370/pages/week-10-crisis-situations-and-ethics
Brown, L. (n.d.). Photo releases: yes, no, or maybe so? Membership Vision. https://www.membershipvision.com/blog/worth-a-thousand-words-visual-storytelling-on-church-websites-and-social-media/
Naples United Church of Christ, (n.d.). https://www.naplesucc.org/
Images courtesy of Naples United Church of Christ.