Church: Take a Clue from Mayo Clinic's Center for Social Media (#MCCSM) Guidelines

Follow me on Twitter or any other social media; attend one of my talks or workshops; read my books and you cannot help but notice how frequently I reference the healthcare industry in general and #hcsm (healthcare social media) in particular.

Many of my posts include counsel like this: "swap church for healthcare or hospital..."  Healthcare and church are indeed that interchangeable more often than not. I should know.

I've been involved with healthcare communications for decades...before, during, and after getting into the ministry of church communications, and:

• A charter member-participant of the weekly #hcsm chat on Twitter, everything I learned there came in handy when starting our weekly #chsocm chat. 

• My involvement with the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media's (#MCCSM) external advisory board since it's inception has provided deep, durable lessons about using social media in an environment where safety, privacy, and confidentiality are as important as information and education.

• The privilege of helping develop curriculum for the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media's Social Media Residency program has been invaluable for developing similar training for church types. 

Although most of my digital strategy and communications work these days is with and for local churches and judicatories, I hope to always be involved with healthcare communications. Not only do I learn from my colleagues in that secular environment, but I'm also keen on when and how health and faith intersection. But that's a different topic for another time!

Here and now I'm sharing this video about Mayo Clinic's Social Media Guidelines. It runs long (8:42) but worth watching carefully in full... and more than once. Again, I invite you to swap church for healthcare; faith for health as you listen to what my MCCSM colleagues have to say about social media, starting with this pull quote:

"This isn't an addition to your job, this is a part of your job. This is a conversation, which is what we're trained to do. We are about the needs of the patient, and this is where our patients are and this is where their needs are met most effectively." 

─ Dr. Farris Timimi, Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media

Social Media Bulletin Announcement

I have written elsewhere about how I feel about using social media during worship. (Hint: I'm for it). As Megan and I got the worship materials ready for our wedding, we knew we want to include something about using social media during our wedding service. This is the announcement that we put in our worship bulletin for the wedding:

About Technology
We love technology, and the ways it allows us to stay connected to one another. As we are gathered here in this place, people across the country are also watching this worship service online. You are welcome to use your personal technology during the service—take pictures with your phone, tweet about the ceremony, share your experience on facebook. We believe that sharing in this way creates community and connects us with those who cannot be present today. We only ask that you refrain from using a flash during the worship service. Hashtags for the wedding: #epicenterofmatrimony and #megarev

using twitter during worship, using facebook during worship, cell phones in church

Thought-Provoking Thursday: Church Social Media Policy

Reflection: Let's Get More Intentional About Setting and Keeping Boundaries

Today’s post is from the Rev. Richard Bott (@RchrdBott), an ordained minister in The United Church of Canada. Richard has been an avid user of digital connections to build Christian community since the days of 300 bit modems & BBSs. Here, he invites the #chsocm community to focus on boundary issues that seem to be intensified by social media. Take a look at these great questions and let’s chat about them on Tuesday!

 

Called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Then you're called to be in relationship with other people. User of social media? Then you're probably in relationship with people you don't know face-to-face.

One difficulty with ministry of any sort is understanding boundaries that allow us to be truly supportive of one another in the body of Christ.

Those of us who serve in congregations as pastors, ministers and priests, learn the importance of these boundaries for the spiritual health of both the people in our congregations and ourselves. We come to learn that there is powerful intimacy in shared prayer; huge trust given as stories of loss and hope are shared; huge possibilities for confusing our care as an invitation to romantic relationship.

Because social media is a mode of communication occurring at a distance, we lose our ability to "hear" the tone of words. Observing body language is impossible. We can miss subtleties others may believe they’re communicating clearly.

Boundaries we would never think of crossing in the physical world, like having a private meeting out of the sight of other community members, seem easier to cross in the virtual one, like chatting via DM (direct message) about someone's broken relationship.

As is the case in the physical world, we work much of this out by trial-and-error in the world of social media. Still, this is all very new and we need to help each other figure out the joys and pitfalls of boundaries; how to create and sustain boundaries.

Consider these questions: What boundaries are important for you to keep? Is there anyone who you know you should not connect with? How do you articulate your boundaries? What do you do if – or when – someone violates your established boundaries and doesn't respect, "No. Stop!" What do you do if you cross boundaries you know shouldn't be crossed?

Some Christian organizations are beginning to look at this. Marie Fortune at FaithTrust Institute is one. Unfortunately, many of the groups that are good at articulating boundary issues, haven't spent much time in the world of church social media or deployed the #chsocm hashtag to share their wisdom.

As people of Christ who minister in and through social media, we can come at these questions from the place of people who live these relationships every day. 

Privacy, Trust, and Pastoral Care in the World of Church Social Media

In this post, David Hansen (@rev_david) continues earlier musings about best practices for clergy who use social media.

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I’ve been known to say, "There’s no such thing as privacy anymore." I stand by that.

You can buck against it and may dislike it, but the fact remains: living private, isolated lives is no longer how we live. As communities always have, we learn about one another in the public square but because of the Internet and social media, the public square has grown to an unimaginable size.

So what becomes of pastoral confidentiality in a world where privacy is (mostly) an illusion? Who is responsible for keeping their mouth shut? Who may share information? What can be posted? What crosses the line?

I suggest following these guidelines:

1.      The expectation of privacy resides with the person with the least amount of power/authority. The one confessing, not the confessor should expect confidentiality.

2.      Do not post about situations, even without identifying information, if the connection can be traced to the real-life situation. 

3.   When in doubt, do not post.

An example: Let's say a couple comes to me and we have a conversation in preparation for their wedding. I have no expectation of confidentiality in that conversation. They may talk about our conversation with their friends on Facebook or Twitter. They may even quote advice I gave them or have some fun at my expense. 

However, were I to go home and write a blog post about couples preparing for marriage, that couple might justifiably assume (even without identifying details) I was reflecting on our conversation. If they had talked about it with their friends, their friends might draw the same conclusion. I have violated their right to privacy.

In any sort of pastoral care situation, those receiving pastoral care should expect their concerns, even during times of celebration, to be kept confidential. Always. If they want to talk about our conversation, that’s their prerogative. It’s their information to share, not mine.

This is true for all sorts of relationships that involve an imbalance of power and/or authority. Pastor-parishioner, bishop-pastor, candidate for ministry-denominational leader, teacher-student, etc.

Unclear? Unsure whether you may post something or not? Then, do not post it. When in doubt, do not post. As pastors, we are often present to the most private aspects of people’s lives. Protect that.

Clergy Online: Seeing Yourself as Others Might See You

David Hansen (@Rev_David) will be moderating the #ChSocM chat on Tuesday, June 26 at 9:00 PM ET. Here, he provides a context for what will be (yet another) a lively conversation. Read on, mark your calendar, and let's chat!

Almost Happy Birthday!  In just two weeks, the Tuesday night #ChSocM chat will celebrate its first birthday.

This means we’ve been talking about what it means to use social media in ministry for a year. And what a year it has been! 52 weekly conversations. Blog posts about boundaries and public online presence. Sharing joys and sorrows. Our lead moderator went off and got hitched and my own nuptials are just around the corner. There have even been a couple of books published (or soon to be) about church social media.

We have been so focused on key issues about church social media, it can be easy to assume everyone else is engaging in the same conversations.

Until it becomes obvious that they are not.

Last week, a post appearing on a denominational blog caused quite a dust-up. That post, which has been removed, raised questions about what clergy should or should not share about themselves on social media, how to deal with sensitive issues online, and how leaders in positions of authority interact with others on social media.

There were good reasons why that post was removed, and I do not wish to resurrect specific issues raised within it. However, in the online, public conversation that followed, important questions arose:

1. How do we begin having real expectations for the public behavior of clergy? This would be expectations that hold us accountable while acknowledging we’re not a monastic caste.
2. How can clergy learn to speak about our lives publicly with authenticity and transparency, without sharing inappropriately? 
3. How can the #ChSocM community engage denominational leadership in education about social media, and invite them into conversation about using social media for ministry?

Social Media Policies

Social media policies for churches and other faith-based organizations?

For every person who sighs with relief, another one groans with frustration when this issue is raised.

Proponents generally argue it's important to have everything clarified and codified; that relying on ever-elusive common sense is a big mistake; that such policies come under the heading of must-have best practices.

Opponents generally argue social media policies are unnecessary; people of faith need to be trusted to use good judgment and act in alignment with professed faith; that such policies come under the heading of yet more institutionalized church bureaucracy.

Word to the wise: Do not waste precious energy trying to guess who (e.g., clergy, lay leadership, church administrators, church communications pros) ends up on which side of this debate. Do take a look at the following resources and commentary and let's chat!


Commentary:
Paul Steinbrueck, Does Your Organization Need a Social Media Policy? (Christian Web Trends)

Examples:
Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Social Media Policy 
Lauren Hunter, Does Your Church Have a Social Media Policy? (Church Tech Today)
Anna Belle Leiserson, Resources for Church Social Media Policies (Faith and Web)