If you are a minister, congregation member or leader looking for help with new media tools, you may want to check out the information available on the Communications and Social Media for Unitarian Universalist Congregations web page.

In addition, many congregations may find it useful to post a public disclaimer in the “General Information” section of the “Info” tab on the congregation’s Facebook Page. (My recommendation is to begin the “General Information” section with upbeat information about your congregation, then to add the disclaimer farther down in the “General Information” section.)

Congregations are more than welcome to adapt the content moderation disclaimer which is currently on the Facebook Page of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). It reads:

About this page:

The UUA welcomes all people to contribute to conversations on this page and to share content directly related to Unitarian Universalism. Wall posts, comments, photos, and other content posted on this page are expected to be relevant and respectful.

The UUA has the right to delete any inappropriate content from this page, including but not limited to: irrelevant content, redundant content, hateful content, malicious content, uncivil or disrespectful content, attacks or complaints against an individual, financial solicitations, endorsements of a political candidate or party, and content that violates Facebook’s terms of use, code of conduct, or other policies. Content that violates Facebook’s policies may also be reported.

In the case of the UUA’s Facebook Page, “irrelevant content” is generally considered to be content that does not directly relate to Unitarian Universalism. If your congregation’s Page is intended to be a place for discussion about a wider variety of topics, you may wish to strike that phrase or develop a different definition of relevant content. That said, the rest of this disclaimer offers a good starting point for congregations looking to encourage respectful and positive contributions to the congregational Facebook Page, and to identify and discourage inappropriate content.

When considering an online solution to communicating with the members of our UU fellowship, we decided to use Meetup.com

Our congregation is small (sixty-five members), semi-rural, and far-flung. We wanted to create more community-building activities, classes, etc., both at the church and in the communities where members live. But it is hard to get people together for anything besides Sunday morning activities. Also, we wanted to empower all members to suggest and initiate activities without having to wait for leadership to come up with them! Another factor was the digital divide; many older members were not active online.

Many people recommended Facebook to us, but we wanted to explore other solutions that would help us with community-building and that would not require a lot of maintenance. (We do expect to add Facebook at some point.)

Meetup has turned out to be a very good solution for us.

Because Meetup is designed specifically to get people together in person, there is a minimum of chat and a maximum of planning.

It is extremely easy for any person designated as a Meetup “Assistant Organizer” to announce an activity and get a reading of how many people are interested and likely to attend. I have made every Meetup member who is also a member or friend of the congregation an Assistant Organizer. Activities can be planned far in the future or on the spur of the moment.

The Organizer has total gatekeeping power. In our case, the organizer is the minister (me), but this job could be shared between several people. We decided to set up our Meetup group so that anyone from the public can see what’s going on, but only people who are known can join the group.

Because Meetup is geared toward improving the quality of events, attendees can rate the events afterwards, make comments and suggestions, and post photos.

Because Meetup has no ads, our Meetup Group costs $15 a month. This has been well worth it for us.

It’s easy for members to set their email preferences and the like.

It was extremely easy to set our Group up and it looks quite nice.

A small but real bonus is outreach. If someone is looking at Meetup for activities in their neighborhood, or looking for Unitarians, they will easily find our church. To try it out, browse to “Meetup.com” and enter “Mount Vernon, WA” and “Unitarian.” Or just browse Meetup Groups near Mount Vernon. You will find Skagit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

There are some potential disadvantages to using Meetup:

1.  Cost.

2. The fact that the recent redesign by Meetup took away several desirable features, most notably a format that showed the discussions in a column beside the Meetup announcements. (Grrrr.)

3. The fact that it takes some cheerleading and education to get people to join.

We now have a critical mass (a little over half of our church membership is on Meetup). Activities generated via Meetup are then put on the church calendar, announced on Sundays and in the newsletter, etc., so that everyone – whether they are internet-savvy or not – benefits from the Meetup activities.

I would be more than happy to discuss or explain Meetup to anyone who is interested.  It has been a real boon to our congregation – almost like having an extra staff person!

• Building online relationships with seekers and newcomers.
• Grappling with a growing diversity of communication tools.
• A quick overview of when and why to use the following tools: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, podcasting, and YouTube.

The issues covered in this part of the presentation include:

• Administrative access and security.
• Confidentiality.
• Content moderation and addressing inappropriate content.
• Security.
• Relationship building, friending dilemmas, etc.
• Creating an inclusive and welcoming space online.

If children are going to be photographed or videotaped, written permission must be obtained from a parent or legal guardian of each child. When the photographs or videotapes are published, consider leaving out the names of the children. Some congregations only film children from the back, so that their faces are not visible.

On the UU Growth Blog, Peter Bowden has posted a collection of sample release forms for photographs of children. The forms are all from Unitarian Universalist congregations.

If adults are going to be photographed or videotaped, advertise this fact on all promotion materials for the event at which the photography or videotaping will take place. For example, if your congregation is recording the installation of a new minister, note on the fliers and e-mails about the installation that it will be videotaped. You may even want to make a brief announcement before the ceremony begins (at the same time that you would say “please turn off your cell phones”).

In his interview with Don Skinner for InterConnections, Peter Bowden offers excellent advice on how to secure implicit permission for videorecording and photographing at events:

“When filming crowds at public performances and other large events we generally post signs at entrances to the event notifying those attending that we are filming,” [Bowden] says. “By entering the event they are thereby giving consent. When we do this we take pictures of the signs to document they were posted.”

In short, make a good faith effort to notify event attendees through all possible channels in advance.

If it is feasible, you may also wish to demarcate a seating area that will not be visible on camera, for those who want to attend the event but do not want to be seen in the video.

For events at which people may normally have an expectation of privacy, or events with which people may run some risk by being publicly identified, take the extra step of obtaining written permission from each person in advance of that person being videotaped or photographed. Such events, depending on your community, may include support groups, BGLT dances, or other congregational events.

If your congregation receives a request from someone featured in a photograph or video segment to have that photograph or video segment removed from a congregational website, Facebook Page, etc., do your best to honor that request.

When asking permission, ask for blanket permission to publish and distribute photographs and video. Don’t ask for permission to publish the photographs or video in only one place (i.e. just in the congregational newsletter, just on the congregational website, etc.).

There are two reasons to ask for broad permission:

1. Communication technologies are constantly evolving. Even if right now, your congregation only has a website, in a few months, you might have a blog too, and want to share photographs there!

2. Once a photograph is published, especially online, you can’t completely control where it will be shared. People can very easily take a photograph that they see on a congregation’s website and post it to their Facebook profile, even if doing so violates copyright. You cannot ensure that a photograph posted on your congregation’s website will remain only there.

If you are recording a worship service or other presentation that may include copyrighted material, respect copyright laws. Read “Copyright Issues Related to Worship” for more information.

Have fun with photographs and videos! These media offer a wonderful way to share the story of your congregation with members, newcomers, and the general public.

Other resources that may be useful to your congregation as you establish or reexamine your Facebook Page are:

• Dos and Don’ts for Unitarian Universalist Congregations Using Facebook

• Choosing Administrators for Your Congregation’s Facebook Page

• Does the UUA Have a Sample “New Media Policy” for Congregations? (The answer is that we do not have a broad social media policy sample at this time. But this post provides suggested guidelines for developing your congregation’s social media policy.)

All of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s social media resources are available on the Top Picks for Social Media section of UUA.org

If you have a sample social media policy from a Unitarian Universalist congregation that you would like to share (and have permission to), please post a link to the policy in the comments or e-mail me at pw_specialist@uua.org

In another post, Peter makes the point, “You don’t have to go crazy with a complex production. Instead, focus on capturing compelling stories.”

Peter has highlighted this video, from the First Unitarian Church of Providence, Rhode Island, as an example of how congregation’s ministers can introduce themselves to newcomers online:

I’m not a video expert, but I notice many things that as a viewer I find appealing about this video:

• The video is only a minute-and-a-half long. (Because the length of a video is displayed clearly in the YouTube player, it is one of the things that a viewer sees before deciding whether or not to hit the play button).
• James and Kathy start speaking immediately; there’s no lead-in.
• James and Kathy speak clearly, slowly, and with expression. They exude friendliness and warmth.
• They look at the camera.
• The video is not shaky; the camera was on a tripod or some other stable surface.

And the video has all of these wonderful qualities without being a “complex production.” It’s filmed in one single, beautiful location. There’s no image slideshow, background music, or special effects.

Now, on to the  “complex production” options, for those congregations that have the resources and need. Below are a few more congregational videos that I enjoy, and that I hope will inspire you to find an approach to video that works for your congregation!

• The person who creates the Page will automatically become a page administrator.
• The Page administrator can then select other people to serve as administrators. Once someone is an administrator, he or she can also add new administrators.
• There should always be more than one person serving as an administrator for your congregation’s Facebook page. My recommendation is to have at least three trustworthy people in the congregation serving as page administrators, even if all three are not actively involved in day-to-day management of the page.
• A person who administers a page can only post to the wall using the page name. For example, if Sally Smith is the administrator for the Page of the First Parish Happyville, all of the announcements that she posts to the wall will appear as coming from “First Parish Happyville” and not from “Sally Smith.” This restriction can be limiting for ministers or others who want to post as themselves. For example, a minister might want to write, “I’ll be at the potluck on Friday! Hope to see many of you there.” It’s awkward and confusing to write that as “First Parish Happyville.”
• Announcements posted to the Page wall by administrators appear in the News Feeds of people who like the page.
• Keep in mind that setting up multiple accounts for a single individual is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use;  a person can either serve as a page administrator or can post as an individual on the wall. Not both (unfortunately!)

The tips above are based on the questions most frequently asked by congregations. To explore a wider range of technical issues related to page administration, visit Facebook’s help excellent section on “Creating, administering and editing your Page.”