The Unitarian Universalist ChurchOf the Brazos Valley
Social Media Policy
The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Brazos Valley (UUCBV) has created a Page on Facebook called "The Unitarian Universalist Church of Brazos Valley". It is a Page, which differs from personal or group Facebook accounts, and is primarily maintained by our Office Administrator for Communications. This Page is another means for UUCBV to interact with members of our congregation. It also has potential to be an important tool in attracting visitors by enabling them to discover us through mutual Facebook “friends” of UUCBV. While there are many similarities to the UUCBV web site, weekly email blast and other media, Facebook lends itself to a less formal atmosphere as well as offering a relatively simple way for a greater number of individuals to express themselves by posting comments, photos, web links, etc. to the UUCBV Page’s wall.
This statement sets forth below a number of guidelines for the content on the Facebook Page and likely will be subject to change as the technology changes:
The majority of the Facebook content will promote activities occurring at the church, activities in which members of UUCBV church are participating and events in the greater Brazos Valley area of interest to congregants.
Other types of content will include personal comments, photos, etc. from the Page administrators, and people who have “liked” the Page, and these customarily will be related to the UUCBV Church, Unitarian Universalism, or members of our congregation, etc.
The UUCBV logo, colors and typefaces should be consistent with the UUCBV graphic guidelines and resemble our other media “branding” styles.
The UUCBV Church statement of identity should be prominently displayed.
The name of the minister should be easily accessible as well as photos; however, it should be clear that administrator posts are not from the minister.
The account owner needs to be registered with an email address like admin@brazos-uu.org so that ownership role can be transferred if and when we have personnel changes.
The contact information for UUCBV church should be prominently displayed; links to the UUCBV web site, Twitter site, etc. should also be easily accessible.
The UUA has been notified that UUCBV has a Facebook Page and we have asked to be added to any UUA social media directories or resources that are available.
Photos should be of a presentable quality but this is not as critical as the requirements for photos on the web site. If photos of children (under the age of 18) and are posted they must comply with the UUCBV photo guidelines.
Administrators should monitor the UUCBV Facebook Page and remove any content that does not comply with the guidelines contained herein; habitual offenders may be banned from further contributions to the Page.
Posting should be checked for inappropriate content on a daily basis.
New content should be added by an administrator at least once per week.
In addition to the above guidelines which, as stated, may need revision over time, the following policies will govern the content provided on the UUCBV Facebook Page and these policies should not require much revision over time.
In addition to the UUCBV Office Administrator for Communications, one or more representatives of the Communications Committee will be designated as a Facebook administrator and share responsibility for monitoring the content that is presented on Facebook. These persons shall have full authority to create, delete and maintain the content, provided that the content is maintained within the bounds of these Policies:
Is consistent with the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism
Postings avoid slander, libel, violations of copyright, profanity, off-color humor, and advocacy of political candidates
Does not contain church financial information
Does not reveal private personal information (phone number, address, email address)
Does not advertise commercial businesses
Presents information that is accurate and relevant
When making announcements, concisely sets out the “Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and How Much” of all items
Is written in clear and grammatically correct prose
Is updated on a timely basis
The person or persons maintaining the UUCBV Facebook Page shall report to the Communications Committee, which in turn shall report to the UUCBV Board of Trustees.
July 6, 2019
Deborah Wilson